THE  QUEER,  THE  QUAINT 


AND 


THE  QUIZZICAL 


A  CABINET  FOR  THE  CURIOUS 


"The  company  is  mixed." — Byron 


RRANK    H.  STAURKER 


PHILADELPHIA: 
DAVID    McKAY,    PUBLISHER, 

610  SOUTH   WASHINGTON   SQUARE. 


Copyright,  1882,  by 
F.    H.    8TAUFFER 


attfc  tootrtrers- 
ImfquUfes  ana  tluntters. 
<$metts  Ufre,  mgstfc  fire, 
Strange  customs,  cranfes  anti  (peats, 
eirfth  phClosophg  tit  streams. 


203SS45 


Custom  doth  often  reason  overrule, 

And  only  serves  for  reason  to  the  fool. — Rochester. 

A  moon  dial,  with  Napier's  bones, 

And  sev'ral  constellation  stones. — Butler. 

He  shows,  on  holidays,  a  sacred  pin, 

That  touch'd  the  ruff  that  touch'd  Queen  Bess's  chin. 

—  Wolcofs  Peter  Pindar. 

Stretching  away  on  the  one  hand  into  the  deep  gloom  of  barbaric 
ignorance,  and  on  the  other  hand  into  the  full  radiance  of  Christian  intelli- 
gence, and,  grounding  itself  strongly  in  the  instinctive  recognition  by  all 
men  of  the  intimate  relations  between  the  seen  and  the  unseen,  the  empire 
of  SUPERSTITION  possesses  all  ages  of  human  history  and  all  stages  of 
human  progress. — Nimno. 

Matrons  who  toss  the  cup,  and  see 

The  grounds  of  fate  in  grounds  of  tea. — Churchill. 

I  have  known  the  shooting  of  a  star  to  spoil  a  night's  rest;  I  have  seen 
a  man  in  love  grow  pale  upon  the  plucking  of  a  merry-thought.  There  is 
nothing  so  inconsiderable  which  may  not  appear  dreadful  to  an  imagination 
that  is  filled  with  omens  and  prognostics. — Addison. 

(5) 


Books  with  Unpronounceable  Names. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  there  was  a  book  published 
entitled:  " Crononhotonthologos,  the  most  tragical  tragedy 
that  ever  was  tragedized  by  any  company  of  tragedians." 
The  first  two  lines  of  this  effusion  read — 

"Aldeborontiphoscophosnio ! 
Where  left  you  Chrononhotonthologos  ?" 

We  might  name  another  singular  title  of  a  work  published  in 
1661  by  Robert  Lovell,  entitled:  "Panzoologicomineralogia; 
a  complete  history  of  animals  and  minerals,  contain 'g  the 
summs  of  all  authors,  Galenical  and  Chymicall,  with  the 
anatomic  of  man,  &c." — Salad  for  the  Solitary, 


Most  Curious  Book  in  the  World. 

The  most  singular  bibliographic  curiosity  is  that  which 
belonged  to  the  family  of  the  Prince  de  Ligne,  and  is  now  in 
France.  It  is  neither  written  nor  printed.  All  of  the  letters 
of  the  text  are  cut  out  of  each  folio  upon  the  finest  vellum ; 
and,  being  interlaced  with  blue  paper,  it  is  read  as  easily  as 
the  best  print.  The  labor  and  patience  bestowed  upon  it 
must  have  been  excessive,  especially  when  the  precision  and 
minuteness  of  the  letters  are  considered.  The  general  execu- 
tion is  admirable  in  every  respect,  and  the  vellum  is  of  the 
most  delicate  and  costly  kind.  Rodolphus  IT.,  of  Germany, 
offered  for  it,  in  1640,  eleven  thousand  ducats,  which  was 
probably  equal  to  sixty  thousand  at  this  day.  The  most 


8 

remarkable  circumstance  connected  with  this  literary  treasure 
is  that  it  bears  the  royal  arms  of  England,  but  it  cannot  be 
shown  that  it  was  ever  in  that  country.  The  book  is  entitled : 
Liber  Passionis  Domini  Nostri  Jesu  Christi  cum  Characteribus 
Nulla  Materia  Compositis. 

A  Long  Lost  Book  Recovered. 

The  book  called  "The  Ascension  of  Isaiah  the  Prophet" 
had  been  known  to  exist  in  former  ages,  but  had  disappeared 
after  the  fifth  century.  During  the  present  century  Dr. 
Richard  Laurence,  the  professor  of  Hebrew  at  Oxford,  and 
afterwards  Archbishop  of  Cassel,  accidentally  met  with  an 
^Ethiopic  MS.  at  the  shop  of  a  bookseller  in  Drury  Lane, 
which  proved  to  be  this  apocryphal  book.  There  was  some- 
thing remarkable  in  the  discovery,  in  a  small  bookseller's 
shop,  of  a  book  which  had  been  lost  to  the  learned  for  more 
than  a  thousand  years. 

The  Bug  Bible. 

Among  the  literary  curiosities  in  the  Southampton  library, 
England,  is  an  old  Bible  known  as  the  "Bug  Bible,"  printed 
by  John  Daye,  1551,  with  a  prologue  by  Tyndall.  It  derives 
its  name  from  the  peculiar  rendering  of  the  fifth  verse  in  the 
gist  Psalm,  which  reads  thus:  "So  that  thou  shall  not  need 
to  be  afraid  for  any  bugs  by  night." 

Illuminated  Manuscript  Bible. 

Guido  de  Jars  devoted  half  a  century  to  the  production  of 
a  manuscript  copy  of  the  Bible,  with  illuminated  letters.  He 
began  it  in  his  fortieth  year,  and  did  not  finish  it  until  his 
ninetieth  (1294).  It  is  of  exceeding  beauty. 


9 
The  Mazarine  Bible. 

This  is  so  called  from  its  having  been  found  in  the  Cardi- 
nal's library.  It  was  the  first  book  printed  with  metal  types, 
and  cost  $2,500. 

A  Book  without  Words. 

A  literary  curiosity  exists  in  England  in  the  shape  of  "A 
Wordless  Book,''  so  called  because,  after  the  title  page,  it 
contains  not  9.  single  word.  It  is  a  religious  allegory  devised 
by  a  religious  enthusiast,  and  the  thought  is  in  the  symbolic 
color  of  its  leaves,  of  which  two  are  black,  two  crimson,  two 
pure  white,  two  pure  gold.  The  black  symbolizes  the  unre- 
generate  heart  of  man;  the  crimson,  the  blessed  redemption; 
the  white,  the  purity  of  the  soul  "  washed  in  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb;"  the  gold,  the  radiant  joy  of  eternal  felicity. 

Wierix's  Bible. 

The  edition  of  this  Bible  contains  a  plate  by  John  Wierix, 
representing  the  feast  of  Dives,  with  Lazarus  at  his  door.  In 
the  rich  man's  banqueting  room  there  is  a  dwarf  playing  with 
a  monkey,  to  contribute  to  the  merriment  of  the  company, 
according  to  the  custom  among  people  of  rank  in  the  sixteenth 
century. 

Gilt  Beards. 

There  was  a  French  Bible  printed  in  Paris  in  1538,  by 
Anthony  Bonnemere,  wherein  is  related  "that  the  ashes  of 
the  golden  calf  which  Moses  caused  to  be  burnt,  and  mixed 
with  the  water  that  was  drank  by  the  Israelites,  stuck  to  the 
beards  of  such  as  had  fallen  down  before  it,  by  which  they 
appeared  with  gilt  beards,  as  a  peculiar  mark  to  distinguish 


10 


those  who  had  worshipped  the  calf."       This  idle  story  is 
actually  interwoven  with  the  j2d  chapter  of  Exodus. 

Printed  in  Gold  Letters. 

Bede  speaks  of  a  magnificent  copy  of  the  Gospels  in  letters 
of  the  purest  gold,  upon  leaves  of  purple  parchment. 

Magnificent  Latin  Bible. 

Amongst  the  rare  and  costly  relics  in  the  library  of  the 
Vatican,  is  the  magnificent  Latin  Bible  of  the  Duke  of  Urbino. 
It  consists  of  two  large  folios,  embellished  by  numerous  figures 
and  landscapes,  in  the  ancient  arabesque. 

Interesting  Manuscript  Bibles. 

In  the  British  Museum  there  are  two  copies  of  the  Scrip- 
tures which  are  peculiarly  calculated  to  interest  the  pious 
visitors,  from  the  circumstances  under  which  they  were  tran- 
scribed. The  elder  manuscript  contains  "The  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  in  short  hand,  in  1686,"  which  were  copied, 
during  many  a  wakeful  night,  by  a  zealous  Protestant,  in  the 
reign  of  James  II.,  who  feared  that  the  attempts  of  that 
monarch  to  re-establish  Popery  would  terminate  in  the  sup- 
pression of  the  sacred  Scriptures. 

The  other  manuscript  contains  the  book  of  Psalms  and  the 
New  Testament,  in  15  volumes,  folio,  written  in  characters 
an  inch  long,  with  white  ink,  on  black  paper  manufactured 
for  the  purpose.  This  perfectly  unique  copy  was  written  in 
1745,  at  the  cost  of  a  Mr.  Harries,  a  London  tradesman. 
His  sight  having  failed  with  age  so  as  to  prevent  his  reading 
the  Scriptures,  though  printed  in  the  largest  type,  he  incurred 


11 


the  expense  of  this  transcription  that  he  might  enjoy  those 
sources  of  comfort  which  "are  more  to  be  desired  than  gold, 
yea,  than  much  fine  gold." 

The  British  Museum  paid  $3750  for  the  manuscript  Bible 
made  by  Alcuin,  in  the  eighth  century,  for  the  Emperor  Char- 
lemagne, whose  instructor  and  friend  he  was. 

The  Vinegar  Bible. 

This  Bible  derives  its  title  from  an  edition  which  contained 
an  error  in  the  heading  to  the  twentieth  chapter  of  St.  Luke, 
in  which  '''Parable  of  the  Vineyard"  is  printed  "Parable  of 
the  Vinegar."  The  edition  was  issued  in  the  year  1717,  by 
the  University  of  Oxford,  at  their  Clarendon  Press. 

Queen  Elizabeth's  "Oone  Gospell  Booke." 

This  book  is  a  precious  object  to  the  virtuoso.  It  was  the 
work  of  Queen  Catherine  Parr,  and  was  enclosed  in  solid 
gold.  It  hung  by  a  gold  chain  at  her  side,  and  was  the  fre- 
quent companion  of  the  "Virgin  Queen."  In  her  own  hand- 
writing, at  the  beginning  of  the  volume,  the  following  quaint 
lines  appear — 

"  I  walke  many  times  into  the  pleasaunt  fieldes  of  the  Holie 
Scriptures,  where  I  plucke  up  the  gooclliesome  herbes  of 
sentences  by  pruning;  eate  them  by  readinge;  chawe  them 
by  musing;  and  laye  them  up  at  length  in  ye  state  of  memorie 
by  gathering  them  together;  that  so,  having  tasted  their 
sweetness,  I  may  the  lesse  perceave  the  bitterness  of  this 
miserable  life." 

This  was  penned  by  the  Queen,  probably  while  she  was  in 
captivity  at  Woodstock,  as  the  spirit  it  breathed  affords  a 
singular  contrast  to  the  towering  haughtiness  of  her  ordinary 
deportment. 


12 

Eliot's  Indian  Bible. 

At  the  age  of  42,  John  Eliot,  pastor  of  a  church  at  Roxbury, 
Mass.,  began  the  study  of  the  Natick  Indian  dialect,  with  a 
view  of  translating  the  Bible  into  that  language.  He  com- 
pleted the  translation  in  1658,  after  a  labor  of  eight  years, 
and  the  book  was  issued  in  1663.  Upwards  of  one  thousand 
copies  were  printed,  of  which  twenty  copies  were  dedicated  to 
King  Charles.  The  latter  copies  are  so  rare  that  one  of  them 
was  sold  in  the  U.  S.,  in  1862,  for  $1000,  and  six  years  later 
for  $i  150.  Among  the  many  points  of  interest  which  Eliot's 
Indian  Bible  possesses,  not  the  least  is  the  fact  that  it  is  the 
language  of  a  nation  no  longer  in  existence,  and  is  almost  the 
only  monument  of  the  race ;  another,  that  it  is  the  first  edi- 
tion of  the  Bible  published  in  this  country. 

Silver  Book. 

In  the  library  of  Upsal,  in  Sweden,  there  is  preserved  a 
translation  of  the  four  Gospels,  printed  with  metal  type  upon 
violet-colored  vellum.  The  letters  are  silver,  and  hence  it 
has  received  the  name  of  Codex  Argenteus.  The  initial  letters 
are  in  gold.  It  is  supposed  that  the  whole  was  printed  in  the 
same  manner  as  book-binders  letter  the  titles  of  books  on  the 
back.  It  was  a  very  near  approach  to  the  art  of  printing,  but 
it  is  not  known  how  old  it  is. 

Huge  Copy  of  the  Koran. 

D'lsraeli  mentions  a  huge  copy  of  the  Koran — probably 
without  a  parallel,  as  to  its  size,  in  the  annals  of  letters.  The 
characters  are  described  as  three  inches  long;  the  book  itself  is 
a  foot  in  thickness,  and  its  other  dimensions  five  feet  by  three. 


13 

A  Lost  Book. 

Celsus  wrote  a  book  against  the  Magi,  which  was  not  pre- 
served. He  was  an  Epicurian  philosopher,  and  lived  in  the 
second  century.  Much  regret  has  been  expressed  over  the 
loss  of  the  work.  He  is  mentioned  with  respect  by  Lucian, 
who  derived  from  him  the  account  which  he  gives  of  Alex- 
ander the  imposter.  Even  Origen  treated  him  with  con- 
sideration. 

Book  of  Riddles. 

The  Book  of  Riddles,  alluded  to  by  Shakespeare  in  the 
Merry  Wives  of  Windsor  (Act  ist,  scene  ist),  is  mentioned  by 
Laneham,  1575,  and  in  the  English  Courtier,  1586.  The 
earliest  edition  now  preserved  is  dated  1629.  It  is  entitled 
"The  Booke  of  Merry  Riddles,  together  with  proper  Ques- 
tions and  with  Proverbs  to  make  pleasant  pastime;  no  less 
usefull  and  behovefull  for  any  young  man  or  child,  to  know 
if  he  be  quick-witted  or  no." 

Unique  Library. 

A  singular  library  existed  in  1535,  at  Warsenstein,  near 
Cassel.  The  books  composing  it,  or  rather  the  substitutes  for 
them,  were  made  of  wood,  and  every  one  of  them  is  a  speci- 
men of  a  different  tree.  The  back  is  formed  of  its  bark,  and 
the  sides  are  constructed  of  polished  pieces  of  the  same  stock. 
When  put  together,  the  whole  forms  a  box,  and  inside  of  it 
are  stored  the  fruit,  seed  and  leaves,  together  with  the  moss 
which  grows  on  its  trunk  and  the  insects  which  feed  upon  the 
tree.  Every  volume  corresponds  in  size,  and  the  collection 
altogether  has  an  excellent  effect. 


14 

The  New  England  Primer. 

After  the  horn-book,  the  children  of  the  incipient  United 
States  were  furnished  with  primers,  among  the  most  noted  of 
which  was  "The  New  England  Primer  for  the  more  easy 
attaining  the  reading  of  English,  to  which  is  added  the 
Assembly  of  Divines  and  Mr.  Cotton's  Catechisms."  This 
primer  had  in  it  the  alphabet,  syllables  of  two  letters,  and 
many  a  pious  distich,  such  as — 

Young  Timothy 
Learn'd  sin  to  fly. 

Whales  in  the  sea 
God's  voice  obey. 

In  Adam's  fall 
We  sinned  all. 

Vashti  for  pride 
Was  set  aside. 

These  puritanic  verses  were  accompanied  with  illustrations 
fully  as  bad  as  the  rhymes,  which  were  occasionally  stretched 

to  a  triplet,  as — 

Young  Obadias, 
David,  Josias, 
All  were  pious. 

The  Bedford  Missal. 

One  of  the  most  celebrated  books  in  the  annals  of  biblio- 
graphy is  the  richly  illuminated  Missal  executed  by  John, 
Duke  of  Bedford,  Regent  of  France  under  Henry  VI.,  and 
presented  by  him  to  the  king  in  1430.  This  rare  volume  is 
eleven  inches  long,  seven  and  a  half  inches  wide,  and  two  and 
a  half  inches  thick.  It  contains  fifty-nine  large  miniatures, 
which  nearly  occupy  the  whole  page,  and  above  a  thousand 
small  ones,  in  circles  of  about  an  inch  and  a  half  in  diameter, 


15 

displayed  in  brilliant  borders  of  golden  foliage,  with  varie- 
gated flowers,  etc.  At  the  bottom  of  every  page  are  two  lines 
in  blue  and  gold  letters,  which  explain  the  subject  of  each 
miniature.  This  relic,  after  passing  through  various  hands, 
descended  to  the  Duchess  of  Portland,  whose  valuable  collec- 
tion was  sold  by  auction  in  1786.  Among  its  many  attrac- 
tions was  the  Bedford  Missal.  A  knowledge  of  the  sale  com- 
ing to  the  ears  of  George  III.,  he  sent  for  his  bookseller,  and 
expressed  his  intention  to  become  the  purchaser.  The  book- 
seller ventured  to  submit  to  his  Majesty  the  probable  high  price 
it  would  bring.  "How  high?"  asked  the  king.  "Probably 
two  hundred  guineas,"  replied  the  bookseller.  "Two  hun- 
dred guineas  for  a  missal!"  exclaimed  the  Queen,  who  was 
present,  and  lifted  her  hands  in  astonishment.  "Well,  well, 
I'll  have  it  still,"  said  his  majesty;  "but  since  the  Queen 
thinks  two  hundred  guineas  so  enormous  a  price  for  a  missal, 
I'll  go  no  higher."  The  bidding  for  the  royal  library  actually 
stopped  at  that  point,  and  a  celebrated  collector,  Mr.  Edwards, 
became  the  purchaser  by  adding  three  pounds  more.  The 
same  missal  was  afterwards  sold  at  Mr.  Edwards'  sale,  in  1815, 
and  purchased  by  the  Duke  of  Marlborough  for  the  enormous 
sum  of  £637  i$s.  sterling. 

Lord  Kingsborough's  Mexico. 

The  most  costly  undertaking  of  a  literary  character  ever 
undertaken  by  a  single  individual  is  the  magnificent  work  on 
"Mexico,"  by  Lord  Kingsborough.  This  stupendous  work 
is  said  to  have  been  produced  at  an  enormtous  cost  to  the 
author.  It  is  comprised  in  seven  immense  folio  volumes, 
embellished  by  about  one  thousand  colored  illustrations.  He 
spent  more  than  $300,000  in  its  production,  his  enthusiasm 
carrying  him  so  far  that  he  ultimately  died  in  debt. 


16 

Imperishable  Prison  Literature. 

Bcethius  composed  his  excellent  "Consolations  of  Philoso- 
phy" in  prison.  Grotius  wrote  his  "Commentary"  while 
in  prison.  Cervantes,  it  is  said,  wrote  that  masterpiece  of 
Spanish  romance,  "Don  Quixote,"  on  board  one  of  the  gal- 
leys, in  Barbara.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  compiled  his  "History 
of  the  World"  in  his  prison-chamber  in  the  Tower.  Bunyan 
composed  his  immortal  allegory  in  Bedford  jail.  Luther  gave 
the  Bible  to  Germany,  having  translated  it  in  Wartburg  castle. 


Puffing  their  own  Books. 

Authors  of  the  olden  time  used  to  puff  their  own  works  by 
affixing  "taking  titles"  to  them;  such  as  "A  right  merrie and 
wittie  interlude,  verie  pleasant  to  reade,  &c.;"  "A  marvellous 
wittie  treatise,  &c.;"  "A  Delectable,  Pithie  and  Righte  Profit- 
able Worke,  &c." 

Sibylline  Books. 

The  Sibylline  prophecies  were  of  early  Trojan  descent,  and 
the  most  celebrated  of  the  Sibyls,  or  priestesses,  plays  an 
important  part  in  the  tales  of  ./Eneas.  Her  prophecies  were 
supposed  to  be  heard  in  dark  caverns  and  apertures  in  rocks. 
They  are  thought  by  Varro  to  have  been  written  upon  palm 
leaves  in  Greek  hexameters.  They  were  largely  circulated  in 
he  time  of  Croesus,  and  the  promises  which  they  made  of 
future  empire  to  ^Eneas  escaping  from  the  flames  of  Troy  into 
Italy,  were  remarkably  realized  by  Rome.  Of  the  nine  books 
offered  for  sale  by  a  Sibyl  to  Tarquinius  Superbus,  six  were 
burnt,  after  which  he  purchased  the  remaining  three  for  the 
price  originally  demanded  for  the  nine.  They  were  kept  in  a 
stone  chest  under  ground  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus, 


17 

in  the  custody  of  certain  officers,  who  only  consulted  the 
books  at  the  special  command  of  the  Senate.  Some  Sibylline 
books  appear  to  have  been  consulted  until  the  tenth  century. 

Prophetic  Almanacs. 

The  fame  of  the  celebrated  astrologer,  Nostradamus,  who 
prophesied  minutely  the  death  of  Henry  II.  of  France,  the 
execution  of  Charles  I.  of  England,  the  great  fire  of  London, 
the  Restoration,  &c.,  gave  such  an  impulse  to  predictions  that, 
in  1579,  Henry  III.  of  France  prohibited  the  insertion  of 
any  political  prophecies  in  almanacs,  a  prohibition  which  was 
renewed  by  Louis  XIII.,  in  1628.  In  the  reign  of  Charles 
IX.  a  royal  edict  required  every  almanac  to  be  stamped  with 
the  approval  of  the  diocesan  bishop.  Prophetic  almanacs  still 
circulate  to  an  incredible  extent  in  the  rural  districts  of 
France,  and  among  the  uneducated.  The  most  popular  of  all 
these  is  the  "Almanac  Liegeois,"  a  venerable  remnant  of 
superstition,  first  issued  in  1636.  It  is  a  most  convenient 
almanac  for  those  who  are  unable  to  read,  for  by  certain  sym- 
bols attached  to  certain  dates  the  most  unlettered  persons 
can  follow  its  instructions.  A  rude  representation  of  a  phial 
announces  the  proper  phase  of  the  moon  under  which  a 
draught  of  medicine  should  be  taken ;  a  pair  of  scissors  points 
out  the  proper  period  for  cutting  hair;  a  lancet,  for  letting 
blood,  &c. 

Diaries. 

Marcus  Antonius'  celebrated  work,  entitled  "Of  the  Things 
which  Concern  Himself,"  would  be  a  good  definition  of  the 
use  and  purpose  of  a  diary.  Shaftesbury  calls  a  diary  "A 
Fault-book,"  intended  for  self-correction;  and  a  Colonel 
Hardwood,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.,  kept  a  diary  which,  in 


18 

the  spirit  of  the  times,  he  entitled  "Slips,  Infirmities  and 
Passages  of  Providence. "  One  old  writer  quaintly  observes 
that  "the  ancients  used  to  take  their  stomach-pill  of  self- 
examination  every  night.  Some  used  little  books  or  tablets, 
tied  at  their  girdles,  in  which  they  kept  a  memorial  of  what 
they  did,  against  their  night-reckoning."  We  know  that 
Titus,  the  delight  of  mankind,  as  he  has  been  called,  kept  a 
diary  of  all  his  actions,  and  when  at  night  he  found  that  he 
had  performed  nothing  memorable,  he  would  exclaim: 
"Friends,  we  have  lost  a  day."  Edward  VI.  kept  a  diary, 
while  that  left  by  James  II.,  so  full  of  facts  and  reflections, 
furnished  excellent  material  for  history.  Richard  Baxter, 
author  of  one  hundred  and  forty-five  distinct  works,  left  a 
diary  extending  from  1615  to  1648,  which,  when  published, 
formed  a  folio  of  seven  hundred  closely-printed  pages.  Valu- 
able diaries  were  also  left  by  Whitelock  and  Henry  Earl  of 
Clarendon. 

Literary  Ingenuity. 

Odo  tenet  mulum,  madidam  mappam  tenet  anna. 

The  above  line  is  said,  in  an  old  book,  to  have  "cost  the 
inventor  much  foolish  labor,  for  it  is  perfect  verse,  and  every 
word  is  the  very  same  both  backward  and  forward." 

Supposed  to  be  a  Genuine  Island. 

When  the  Utopia  of  Sir  Thomas  More  was  first  published, 
it  occasioned  quite  a  complimentary  blunder.  This  political 
romance  represents  a  perfect  but  visionary  republic,  in  an 
island  supposed  to  have  been  newly  discovered  in  America. 
As  this  was  the  age  of  discovery  (says  Granger),  the  learned 
Budseus,  and  others,  took  it  for  a  genuine  history,  and  con- 
sidered it  as  highly  expedient  that  missionaries  should  be  sent 
thither,  in  order  to  convert  so  wise  a  nation  to  Christianity. 


19 

King  of  India's  Library. 

Dabshelim,  King  of  India,  had  so  numerous  a  library,  that 
a  hundred  brachmans  were  scarcely  sufficient  to  keep  it  in 
order,  and  it  required  a  thousand  dromedaries  to  transport  it 
from  one  place  to  another.  As  he  was  not  able  to  read  all 
these  books,  he  proposed  to  the  brachmans  to  make  extracts 
from  them  of  the  best  and  most  useful  of  their  contents. 
These  learned  personages  went  so  heartily  to  work,  that  in 
less  than  twenty  years  they  had  compiled  of  all  these  extracts 
a  little  encyclopaedia  of  twelve  thousand  volumes,  which  thirty 
camels  could  carry  with  ease.  They  presented  them  to  the 
king,  but  what  was  their  amazement  to  hear  him  say  that  it 
was  impossible  for  him  to  read  thirty  camel-loads  of  books. 
They  therefore  reduced  their  extracts  to  fifteen,  afterwards  to 
ten,  then  to  four,  then  to  two  dromedaries,  and  at  last  there 
remained  only  enough  to  load  a  mule  of  ordinary  size. 

Unfortunately,  Dabshelim,  during  this  process  of  melting 
down  his  library,  grew  old,  and  saw  no  probability  of  living 
long  enough  to  exhaust  its  quintessence  to  the  last  volume. 
"Illustrious  Sultan,"  said  his  vizier,  "though  I  have  but  a 
very  imperfect  knowledge  of  your  royal  library,  yet  I  will 
undertake  to  deliver  you  a  very  brief  and  satisfactory  abstract 
of  it.  You  shall  read  it  through  in  one  minute,  and  yet  you 
will  find  matter  in  it  to  reflect  upon  throughout  the  rest  of 
your  life."  Having  said  this,  Pilpay  took  a  palm  leaf,  and 
wrote  upon  it  with  a  golden  style  the  four  following  paragraphs: 

1.  The  greater  part  of  the  sciences  comprise  but  one  single 
word — Perhaps,  and  the  whole  history  of  mankind  contains 
no  more  than  three — they  are  born,  suffer,  die. 

2.  Love  nothing  but  what  is  good,  and  do  all  that  thou 
lovest  to  do;  think  nothing  but  what  is  true,  and  speak  not 
all  that  thou  thinkest. 

3.  O  kings !  tame  your  passions,  govern  yourselves,  and  it 
will  be  only  child's  play  to  govern  the  world. 


20 

4.  O  kings!  O  people!  it  can  never  be  often  enough 
repeated  to  you,  what  the  half-witted  venture  to  doubt,  that 
there  is  no  happiness  without  virtue,  and  no  virtue  without 
God. 

Palindromes. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  palindromes  is  the  following — 
SATOR  AREPO  TENET  OPERA  ROTAS. 

Its  distinguishing  peculiarity  is  that  the  first  letter  of  each 
successive  word  writes  to  spell  the  first  word;  the  second  letter 
of  each  the  second  word,  and  so  on  throughout;  and  the 
same  will  be  found  as  precisely  true  upon  reversal.  But  the 
neatest  and  prettiest  that  has  yet  appeared  comes  from  a  highly 
cultivated  lady  who  was  attached  to  the  court  of  Queen  Eliza- 
beth. Having  been  banished  from  the  court  on  suspicion  of 
too  great  familiarity  with  a  nobleman  in  high  favor,  the  lady 
adopted  this  device — a  moon  covered  by  a  cloud — and  the  fol- 
lowing palindrome  for  a  motto — 

ABLATA  AT  ALBA.     (Secluded  but  Pure.) 

The  rnqrit  of  this  kind  of  composition  was  never  in  any 
example  so  heightened  by  appropriateness  and  delicacy  of 
sentiment. 

Chronogram. 

Such  was  the  name  given  to  a  whimsical  device  of  the  later 
Romans,  resuscitated  during  the  renaissance  period,  by  which 
a  date  is  given  by  selecting  certain  letters  amongst  those 
which  form  an  inscription,  and  printing  them  larger  than  the 
others.  The  principle  will  be  understood  from  the  following 
chronogram  made  from  the  name  of  George  Villiers,  the  first 
Duke  of  Buckingham — 


21 

GEORG  IVs.  DVX. 

The  date  MDCXVVVIII  (1628),  is  that  of  the  year  in 
the  Duke  was  murdered  by  Felton,  at  Portsmouth. 


Instance  of  Remarkable  Perseverance. 

The  Rev.  Wm.  Davy,  a  Devonshire  curate,  in  the  year 
1795,  begun  a  most  desperate  undertaking,  viz:  that  of  him- 
self printing  twenty-six  volumes  of  sermons,  which  he  actually 
did,  working  off  page  by  page,  for  fourteen  copies,  and  con- 
tinued the  almost  hopeless  task  for  twelve  years,  in  the  midst 
of  poverty.  Such  wonderful  perseverance  almost  amounts  to 
a  ruling  passion. 

Alliterative  Whims. 

Mrs.  Crawford  says  she  wrote  one  line  in  her  song, 
"Kathleen  Mavourneen,"  for  the  express  purpose  of  con- 
founding the  cockney  wablers,  who  sing  it  thus  — 

"  The  'om  of  the  'unter  is  'card  on  the  'ill." 
Moore  has  laid  the  same  trap  in  the  Woodpecker  — 

"A  'eart  that  is  'umble  might  'ope  for  it  "ere." 
And  the  elephant  confounds  them  the  other  way  — 

"A  helephant  heasily  heats  at  his  hease, 
Hunder  humbrageous  humbrella  trees." 

Alliterations  carried  to  Absurd  Excess. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  fashion  of 
hunting  after  alliterations  was  carried  to  an  absurd  excess. 
Even  from  the  pulpit  the  chosen  people  were  addressed  as 
"the  chickens  of  the  church,  the  sparrows  of  the  spirit,  and 


22 

the  jweet  jwallows  of  salvation."  "Ane  New-Year  Gift,"  or 
address,  presented  to  Mary  Queen  of  Scots  by  the  poet  Alex- 
ander Scot,  concludes  with  a  stanza  running  thus — 

"Fresh,  fulgent,  flourist,  fragrant  flower  formose, 
Lantern  to  love,  of  ladies  lamp  and  lot, 
Cherry  maist  chaste,  chief,  carbuncle  and  chose,  &c." 

Vacillating  Newspapers. 

The  newspapers  of  Paris,  under  censorship  of  the  press,  in 
1815,  announced  in  the  following  manner  Bonaparte's  depart- 
ure from  the  Isle  of  Elba,  his  march  across  France  and  his 
entrance  into  the  French  Capital : — 

"pth  March. — The  Cannibal  has  escaped  from  his  den. 
loth. — The  Corsican  Ogre  has  just  landed  at  Cape  Juan, 
nth. — The  Tiger  has  arrived  at  Gap.  i2th. — The  Monster 
has  passed  the  night  at  Grenoble.  I3th. — The  Tyrant  has 
crossed  Lyons.  i4th — The  Usurper  is  directing  his  course 
toward  Dijon,  but  the  brave  and  loyal  Burgundians  have  risen 
in  a  body  and  they  surround  him  on  all  sides.  i8th. — Bona- 
parte is  sixty  leagues  from  the  Capital;  he  has  had  skill 
enough  to  escape  from  the  hands  of  his  pursuers,  ipth — 
Bonaparte  advances  rapidly,  but  he  will  never  enter  Paris 
2oth. — To-morrow  Napoleon  will  be  under  our  ramparts. 
2ist. — The  Emperor  is  at  Fontainebleau.  22d. — His  Imperial 
and  Royal  Majesty  last  evening  made  his  entrance  into  his 
Palace  of  the  Tuileries,  amidst  the  joyous  acclamations  of  an 
adoring  and  faithful people" 

Dr.  Johnson's  Blunders. 

Considering  that  Doctor  Johnson  was  himself  a  severe 
verbal  critic,  it  might  be  expected  that  his  own  writings  would 
be  correct.  But  he  wrote:  "Every  monumental  inscription 


23 

should  be  in  Latin;  for  that  being  a  dead  language  it  will 
always  //#<?."  Another  Johnsonian  lapsus  is  palpable  in  the 
lines — 

"  Nor  yet  perceived  the  vital  spirit  fled, 
But  still  fought  on,  nor  knew  that  he  was  dead." 

It  would  puzzle  the  reader  to  understand  how  a  warrior 
could  continue  fighting  after  he  was  dead. 

Blunders  of  Painters. 

Tintoret,  an  Italian  painter,  in  a  picture  of  the  Children  of 
Israel  gathering  manna,  represents  them  armed  with  guns.  In 
Cigoli's  painting  of  the  circumcision  of  the  infant  Saviour, 
the  aged  Simeon  has  a  pair  of  spectacles  on  his  nose.  In  a 
picture  by  Verrio  of  Christ  healing  the  sick,  the  by-standers 
have  periwigs  on  their  heads.  A  Dutch  painter,  in  a  picture 
of  the  Wise  Men  worshipping  the  Holy  Child,  has  drawn  one 
of  them  in  a  white  surplice,  and  in  boots  and  spurs,  and  he  is 
in  the  act  of  presenting  to  the  children  a  model  of  a  Dutch 
man-of-war.  In  a  Dutch  picture  of  Abraham  offering  up  his 
son,  instead  of  the  patriarch  "stretching  forth  and  taking  the 
knife,"  he  is  represented  as  holding  a  blunderbuss  to  Isaac's 
head.  Berlin  represents  in  a  picture  the  Virgin  and  Child 
listening  to  a  violin.  A  French  artist,  in  a  painting  of  the 
Lord's  Supper,  has  the  table  ornamented  with  tumblers  filled 
with  cigar  lighters.  Another  French  painting  exhibits  Adam 
and  Eve  in  all  their  primeval  simplicity,  while  near  them,  in 
full  costume,  is  seen  a  hunter  with  a  gun,  shooting  ducks. 

Thackeray's  Geographical  Blunders. 

The  novelist,  in  "The  Virginians,"  makes  Madam  Esmond, 
of  Castlewood,  in  Westmoreland  county,  a  neighbor  of  Wash- 


24 

ington  at  Mt.  Vernon,  on  the  Potomac,  fifty  miles  distant, 
and  a  regular  attendant  at  public  worship  at  Williamsburg, 
half-way  between  the  York  and  James  rivers,  fully  one  hun- 
dred and  twenty-five  miles  from  Mt.  Vernon;  and  so 
"immensely  affected"  are  the  colored  hearers  of  a  young 
preacher  at  Williamsburg  "that  there  was  such  a  negro 
chorus  about  the  house  as  might  be  heard  across  the  Potomac," 
the  nearest  bank  of  which  is  fifty-seven  miles  away. 

He  makes  General  Braddock  ride  out  from  Williamsburg 
(he  never  was  there)  in  "his  own  coach,  a  ponderous, 
emblazoned  vehicle,"  with  Dr.  Franklin,  "the  little  post- 
master of  Philadelphia"  (Franklin's  average  weight  was  160 
pounds),  over  a  muddy  road,  in  March,  through  a  half-wilder- 
ness country  of  more  than  one  hundred  miles,  to  dine  with 
Madam  Esmond,  in  Westmoreland  county,  near  Mt.  Vernon. 


A  Stupid  Critic. 

Commentators  are  sometimes  stupid,  and  their  criticisms 
so  absurd  as  to  be  amusing.  A  German  critic,  in  explaining 
the  text  of  Shakespeare's  comedy  "As  You  Like  It,"  came  to 
the  following  passage — 

"  Tongues  in  trees,  books  in  the  running  brooks, 
Sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  every  thing." 

He  made  this  comment  upon  it:  "The  lines  as  they  now 
stand  are  manifestly  wrong.  No  one  ever  found  books  in  the 
running  brooks,  or  sermons  in  stones.  But  a  slight  trans- 
position of  words  reduces  the  passage  to  sense.  Shakespeare's 
meaning  is  clear,  and  what  he  meant  he  must  have  written. 
The  passage  should  read  thus — 

"  Stones  in  the  running  brooks, 
Sermons  in  books,  and  good  in  every  thing." 


25 

Crooked  Coincidences. 

A  pamphlet  published  in  the  year  1 703,  has  the  following 
strange  title — 

"The  Deformity  of  Sin  Cured,  a  sermon  preached  at 
St.  Michael's,  Crooked  "Lane.,  before  the  Prince  of  Orange,  by 
the  Rev.  James  Cra^shanks.  Sold  by  Matthew  Dowton,  at 
the  Crooked  Billet,  near  Crifplegate,  and  by  all  other  Book- 
sellers." The  words  of  the  text  are,  "  Every  crooked  path 
shall  be  made  straight,"  and  the  Prince  before  whom  it  was 
preached  was  crooked,  i.e.,  deformed. 

The  Bride  of  Abydos. 

In  this  poem  of  Byron's  there  is  no  bride,  for  the  heroine 
dies  heart-broken  and  unwedded. 

Grandiloquent  Outbursts. 

There  is  a  volume  printed  at  Amsterdam,  1657,  entitled: 
"Jesus,  Maria,  Joseph;  or  the  Devout  Pilgrim  of  the  Ever- 
lasting Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  in  his  Holy  Exercises,  Affections 
and  Elevations,  upon  the  sacred  Mysteries  of  Jesus,  Maria  and 
Joseph."  We  append  a  few  extracts  from  this  curious  book, 
as  a  specimen  of  the  language  employed  at  that  time  in 
addressing  the  Virgin — 

"You,  O  Mother  of  God,  are  the  Spiritual  Paradise  of  the 
second  Adam;  the  bright  cloud  carrying  him  who  hath  the 
cherubims  for  his  chariot;  the  fleece  of  wool  filled  with  the 
sweet  dew  of  heaven,  whereof  was  made  that  admirable  robe 
of  our  royal  shepherd,  in  which  he  vouchsafed  to  look  after  his 
sheep;  you  are  pleasing  and  comely  as  Jerusalem,  and  the 
aromatical  odours  issuing  from  your  garments  outvie  all  the 
delights  of  Mount  Lebanon ;  you  are  the  sacred  pix  of  celestial 


26 

perfumes,  whose  sweet  exhalations  shall  never  be  exhausted ; 
you  are  the  holy  oil,  the  unextinguishable  lamp,  the  unfading 
flower,  the  divinely-woven  purple,  the  royal  vestment,  the 
imperial  diadem,  the  throne  of  the  divinity,  the  gate  of  Para- 
dise, the  queen  of  the  universe,  the  cabinet  of  life,  the  foun- 
tain ever  flowing  with  celestial  illustrations." 

"All  hail!  the  divine  lantern  encompassing  that  crystal 
lamp  whose  light  outshines  the  sun  in  its  midday  splendour; 
the  spiritual  sea  whence  the  world's  richest  pearl  was 
extracted;  the  radiant  sphere,  the  well-fenced  orchard,  the 
fruitful  border,  the  fair  and  delicate  garden,  the  nuptial  bed 
of  the  eternal  world,  the  odoriferous  and  happy  City  of  God, 
etc.,  etc." 

Dialect  Rhyme. 

The  subjoined  is  a  specimen  of  the  dialect  spoken  in  the 
county  of  Lancashire,  England.  The  verse  is  a  description  of 
a  lost  baby,  by  the  town-crier,  or  bell-man,  who  still  plies  his 
trade  in  out-of-the-way  parts  of  England — 

Law-st  oather  [either]  to-day  or  else  some  toime  to  morn, 

As  pratty  a  babby  as  ever  wur  born ; 

It  has  cheeks  like  red  roses,  two  bonny  blue  een, 

Had  it  meauth  daubed  wi'  traycle  th'  last  toime  it  were  seen; 

It's  just  cuttin'  it  teeth,  an'  has  very  sore  gums, 

An"  it's  gettin'  a  habit  o'  suckin'  it  thumbs; 

Thoose  at  foind  it  may  keep  it,  there 's  nob'dy  '11  care, 

For  thoose  at  hav  lost  it,  hav  lots  moor  to  spare  ! 

In  Search  of  a  Rhyme. 

Luttrell  made  this  couplet  on  the  wife  of  "Anastatius  ' 
Hope,  famous  for  his  wealth  and  her  own  jewels — 

"  Of  diamond,  emerald  and  topaz, 
Such  as  the  charming  Mrs.  Hope  has!" 


27 

Noted  Anachronisms. 

Shakespeare  makes  Lear,  an  early  Anglo-Saxon  King,  speak 
of  not  wanting  spectacles,  which  were  not  known  until  the 
fourteenth  century.  Cannon  were  first  used  in  the  year  1346, 
but  in  relating  Macbeth's  death,  in  1054,  and  King  John's 
reign  in  1200,  he  mentions  cannon.  In  his  Julius  Caesar,  he 
makes  the  "clock"  strike  three. 

Schiller,  in  his  "Piccolomini,"  speaks  of  a  "lightning- 
conductor"  as  existing  about  150  years  before  its  invention. 

Diogenes  and  his  Tub. 

Modern  scepticism  about  the  practical  stoicism  of  the 
ancients  is  surely  brought  to  a  climax  by  a  living  writer, 
M.  Fournier,  who  maintains  that  the  so-called  tub  of  Diogenes 
was  in  reality  a  commodious  little  dwelling — neat  but  not 
gorgeous.  It  must  be  supposed,  then,  that  he  spoke  of  his 
tub  much  as  an  English  country  gentleman  does  of  his  "box." 
— The  Book  Hunter,  by  Burton. 

Slave  Advertisements. 

The  following  announcements  are  curious,  showing  the 
merchandise  light  in  which  the  negro  was  regarded  in  America 
while  yet  a  colony  of  Great  Britain : 

FRANCIS  LEWIS,  HAS  FOR  SALE, 

A  Choice  Parcel  of  Muscovado  and  Powder  Sugars,  Tierces 
and  Barrels;  Ravens,  Ducks  and  a  Negro  Woman  and  Negro 
Boy.  The  Coach-House  and  Stables,  with  or  without  the 
Garden  Spot,  formerly  the  property  of  Joseph  Murray,  Esq.; 
in  the  Broadway,  to  be  let  separately  or  together: — Inquire  of 
said  Francis  Lewis. — New  York  Gazette,  April  25th,  1765. 


This  Day  Run  away  from  JOHN  McCoMB,  Junier,  an  Indian 
Woman,  about  17  Years  of  Age,  Pitted  in  the  Face,  of  a  mid- 
dle Stature  and  Indifferent  fatt,  having  on  her  a  Drugat,  Wast- 
coat,  and  Kersey  Petticoat,  of  a  Light  Collour.  If  any  Person 
or  Persons  shall  bring  the  said  Girle  to  her  said  Master,  shall 
be  Rewarded  for  their  Trouble  to  their  Content. — American 
Weekly  Mercury,  May  24th.  1726. 

A  Female  Negro  Child  (of  an  extraordinary  good  Breed)  to 
be  given  away.  Inquire  of  Edes  and  Gill. — Boston  Gazette, 
Feb.  25th,  1765. 

To  BE  SOLD,  FOR  WANT  OF  EMPLOY, 

A  Likely  Negro  Fellow,  about  25  Years  of  Age.  He  is  an 
extraordinary  good  Cook,  and  understands  setting  or  tending 
a  table  very  well,  likewise  all  kind  of  House  Work,  such  as 
washing,  scouring,  scrubbing,  &c.  Also,  a  Negro  Wench,  his 
Wife,  about  17  Years  old,  born  in  this  City,  and  understands 
all  Sorts  of  House  Work.  For  farther  Particulars,  inquire  of 
the  Printer. — New  York  Gazette,  March  2ist,  1765. 

Sir  John  Moore  not  Buried  cut  Night. 

It  has  been  generally  supposed  that  the  burial  of  Sir  John 
Moore,  who  fell  at  the  battle  of  Corunna,  in  1809,  took  place 
during  the  night,  an  error  which  doubtless  arose  from  the 
statement  to  that  effect  in  Wolf's  celebrated  lines.  Rev.  Mr. 
Symons,  who  was  the  clergyman  on  the  occasion,  states,  how- 
ever, in  Notes  and  Queries,  that  the  burial  took  place  in  the 
morning,  in  broad  day-light. 

Cleopatra  a  Myth. 

Commentators  of  no  mean  standing  insist  that  Cleopatra 


"  Star-eyed  Egyptian, 
Glorious  sorceress  of  the  Nile," 

is  merely  a  creature  of  the  imagination ;  in  plain  words,  that 
the  Cleopatra  of  history  never  existed,  though  there  were  two 
or  three  women  who  bore  the  name. 


and  Heloise. 

Though  they  may  have  lived  about  the  same  time,  the 
romance  of  their  love  is  now  gravely  denied  by  scholars  and 
antiquarians. 

Odd  Titles  of  Old  Books. 

In  "Gleanings  for  the  Curious  "  we  find  the  following  list 
of  odd  titles  to  books,  most  of  which  were  published  in  the 
time  of  Cromwell : — 

A  Shot  aimed  at  the  Devil's  Head-Quarters  through  the 
Tube  of  the  Cannon  of  the  Covenant. 

Crumbs  of  Comfort  for  the  Chickens  of  the  Covenant. 

Eggs  of  Charity,  layed  by  the  Chickens  of  the  Covenant, 
and  boiled  with  the  Water  of  Divine  Love.  Take  Ye  and  eat. 

High-heeled  Shoes  for  Dwarfs  in  Holiness. 

Hooks  and  Eyes  for  Believers'  Breeches. 

Matches  lighted  by  the  Divine  Fire. 

Seven  Sobs  of  a  Sorrowful  Soul  for  Sin;  or,  the  Seven  Peni- 
tential Psalms  of  the  Princely  Prophet  David ;  whereunto  are 
also  added  William  Humius'  Handful  of  Honeysuckles,  and 
Divers  Godly  and  Pithy  Ditties,  now  newly  augmented. 

Spiritual  Milk  for  Babes,  drawn  out  of  the  Breasts  of  both 
Testaments  for  their  Souls'  Nourishment :  a  catechism. 

The  Bank  of  Faith. 

The  Christian  Sodality;  or,  Catholic  Hive  of  Bees,  sucking 
the  Honey  of  the  Churches'  Prayer  from  the  Blossoms  of  the 


30 

Word  of  God,  blowne  out  of  the  Epistles  and  Gospels  of  the 
Divine  Service  throughout  the  yeare.  Collected  by  the  Puny 
Bee  of  all  the  Hive  not  worthy  to  be  named  otherwise  than 
by  these  elements  of  his  Name,  F.  P. 

The  Gun  of  Penitence. 

The  Innocent  Love;  or,  the  Holy  Knight:  a  description 
of  the  ardors  of  a  saint  for  the  Virgin. 

The  Shop  of  the  Spiritual  Apothecary;  or,  a  collection  of 
passages  from  the  fathers. 

The  Sixpennyworth  of  Divine  Spirit. 

The  Snuffers  of  Divine  Love. 

The  Sound  of  the  Trumpet :  a  work  on  the  day  of  judgment. 

The  Spiritual  Mustard  Pot,  to  make  the  Soul  Sneeze  with 
Devotion. 

The  Three  Daughters  of  Job :  a  treatise  on  patience,  forti- 
tude and  pain. 

Tobacco  battered,  and  the  Pipes  shattered  about  their  Ears 
that  idly  idolize  so  loathsome  a  Vanity,  by  a  Volley  of  holy 
shot  thundered  from  Mount  Helicon :  a  poem  against  the  use 
of  tobacco,  by  Joshua  Sylvester. 

A  Fan  to  drive  away  Flies :  a  theological  treatise  on  Purga- 
tory. 

A  most  Delectable  Sweet  Perfumed  Nosegay  for  God's 
Saints  to  Smell  at. 

A  Pair  of  Bellows  to  blow  off  the  Dust  cast  upon  John  Fry. 

A  Proper  Project  to  Startle  Fools :  Printed  in  a  Land  where 
Self's  cry'd  up  and  Zeal's  cry'd  down. 

A  Reaping-Hook,  well  tempered,  for  the  Stubborn  Ears  of 
the  coming  Crop ;  or,  Biscuit  baked  in  the  Oven  of  Charity, 
carefully  conserved  for  the  Chickens  of  the  Church,  the  Spar- 
rows of  the  Spirit,  and  the  sweet  Swallows  of  Salvation. 

A  Sigh  of  Sorrow  for  the  Sinners  of  Zion,  breathed  out  of 
a  Hole  in  the  Wall  of  an  Earthly  Vessel,  known  among  Men 
by  the  Name  of  Samuel  Fish  (a  Quaker  who  had  been 
imprisoned). 


31 

Title-Pages  which  Mislead. 

The  title-page  is  not  always  a  distinct  intimation  of  what 
is  to  follow.  "The  Diversions  of  Purley"  is  one  of  the 
toughest  books  in  existence.  "Apes  Urbanse  "  (Urban  bees), 
by  the  great  scholar,  Leo  Allatius,  is  not  about  bees,  but  is 
devoted  to  the  great  men  who  flourished  during  the  Pontifi- 
cate of  Urban  VIII. ,  whose  family  carried  bees  on  their  coat- 
armorial.  "Marmontel's  Moral  Tales"  has  been  found  to 
give  disappointment  to  parents  in  search  of  the  absolutely  cor- 
rect and  improving;  and  Edgeworth's  "  Essay  on  Irish  Bulls  " 
has  been  counted  money  absolutely  thrown  away  by  eminent 
breeders.  "MacEwen  on  the  Types"  is  not  a  book  for  prin- 
ters, but  for  theologians.  Ruskin's  treatise  "On  the  Con- 
struction of  Sheepfolds"  treats  about  Popery  and  Protest- 
antism.— The  Book  Hunter, 


A  Carmelite  Friar's  Poem. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  a  carmelite  friar  named  Jean 
Louis  Barthelemi,  but  who  always  called  himself  Pierre  de  St. 
Louis,  composed  (in  twelve  books)  a  poem  entitled,  "The 
Magdaleneide ;  or,  Mary  Magdalen  at  the  Desert  of  the  Sainte 
Beaume  in  Provence,  a  Spiritual  and  Christian  Poem." 
Some  idea  of  it  may  be  obtained  from  a  literally  translated 
extract.  Having  treated  at  large  of  the  Magdelen's  irregular 
conduct  in  the  early  part  of  her  life,  and  of  her  subsequent 
conversion,  he  says: — 

"But  God  at  length  changed  this  coal  into  a  ruby,  this 
crow  into  a  dove,  this  wolf  into  a  sheep,  this  hell  into  a 
heaven,  this  nothing  into  something,  this  thistle  into  a  lily, 
this  thorn  into  a  rose,  this  impotence  into  power,  this  vice 
into  virtue,  this  caldron  into  a  mirror." 

The  poem  cost  him  five  years  of  close  application,  and  he 


32 

concludes  it  by  egotistically  saying:   "If  you  desire  grace  and 
sweetness  in  verses,  in  mine  will  you  find  them." 

Striking  Parallel  Passages  between 
Shakspeare  and  the  Bible. 

Othello. — Rude  am  I  in  speech. — I.  3. 

But  though  I  be  rude  in  speech. — 2  Cor.  xi.  6. 
Witches. — Show  his  eyes  and  grieve  his  heart. — iv.  I. 

Consume  thine  eyes  and  grieve  thine  heart. — i  Sam.  ii.  33. 
Macbeth. — Lighted  fools  the  way  to  dusty  death. — V.  5. 

Thou  hast  brought  me  into  the  dust  of  death. — Ps.  xxii. 
Othello. — I  took  him  by  the  throat,  the  circumcised  dog, 
and  smote  him. — V.  2. 

I  smote  him,  I  caught  him  by  his  beard  and  smote  him, 
and  slew  him. — i  Sam.  xvii.  35. 

Macbeth. — We  will  die  with  harness  on  our  back. — V.  5. 

Nicanor  lay  dead  in  his  harness. — Maccabees  xv.  28. 

Curious  Play  Bill. 

The  following  remarkable  theatrical  announcement  is  worthy 
of  preservation  for  its  effusion  of  vanity  and  poverty,  in  the 
shape  of  an  appeal  to  the  inhabitants  of  a  town  in  Sussex: — 

"At  the  old  theatre  in  East  Grimstead,  on  Saturday,  May 
5th,  1758,  will  be  represented  (by  particular  desire,  and  for 
the  benefit  of  Mrs.  P.)  the  deep  and  affecting  tragedy  of 
Theodosius;  or,  the  Force  of  Love,  with  magnificent  dresses, 
scenery,  &c. 

"Varanes,  by  Mr.  P.,  who  will  strive,  as  far  as  possible,  to 
support  the  character  of  this  fiery  Persian  Prince,  in  which  he 
was  so  much  admired  and  applauded  at  Hastings,  Arundel, 
Petworth,  Lewes,  &c. 


33 

"  Theodosius,  by  a  young  gentleman  from  the  University  of 
Oxford,  who  never  appeared  on  any  stage. 

"Athenais,  by  Mrs.  P.  Though  her  present  condition  will 
not  permit  her  to  wait  on  gentlemen  and  ladies  out  of  the 
town  with  tickets,  she  hopes,  as  upon  former  occasions,  foi 
their  liberality  and  support. 

"Nothing  in  Italy  can  exceed  the  altar,  in  the  first  scene 
of  the  play.  Nevertheless,  should  any  of  the  nobility  or 
gentry  wish  to  see  it  ornamented  with  flowers,  the  bearer  will 
bring  away  as  many  as  they  choose  to  favour  him  with. 

"As  the  coronation  of  Athenias,  to  be  introduced  in  the 
fifth  act,  contains  a  number  of  personages,  more  than  sufficient 
to  fill  all  the  dressing  room,  &c.,  it  is  to  be  hoped  no  gentle- 
men and  ladies  will  be  offended  at  being  refused  admission 
behind  the  scenes. 

"N.  B. — The  great  yard  dog  that  made  so  much  noise  on 
Thursday  night  during  the  last  act  of  King  Richard  the  Third, 
will  be  sent  to  a  neighbor's  over  the  way;  and  on  account  of 
the  prodigious  demand  for  places,  part  of  the  stable  will  be 
laid  into  the  boxes  on  one  side,  and  the  granary  be  open  for 
the  same  purpose  on  the  other.  VivatRex" 

Boone's  Spelling. 

An  old  letter  written  by  Daniel  Boone,  furnishes  this  speci- 
men of  original  spelling: — 

"I  hope  you  Will  Wright  me  By  the  Bearer,  Mr.  goe,  how 
you  Com  on  with  my  Horsis — I  Hear  the  Indians  have  Killed 
Some  pepel  near  Limstone." 

Vagaries  of  Spelling. 

Queen  Elizabeth  spelt  the  word  sovereign  in  seven  different 
ways.  The  Earl  of  Leicester,  her  favorite,  spelt  his  own 


34 

name  in  eight  different  ways.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  spelt  his 
own  name  in  more  than  eight  different  ways.  In  the  deeds  of 
the  Villars  family  their  name  is  spelt  in  fourteen  different 
ways.  In  the  family  documents  of  the  Percy  family  their 
name  is  spelt  in  fifteen  different  ways. 

Singular  Specimen  of  Orthography 
in  the  Sixteenth  Century. 

The  following  letter  was  written  by  the  Duchess  of  Norfolk 
to  Cromwell,  Earl  of  Essex.  It  exhibits  a  curious  instance  of 
che  monstrous  anomalies  of  our  orthography  in  the  infancy  of 
our  literature:  — 

"My  ffary  gode  lord, — her  I  sand  you  in  tokyn  hoff  the 
neweyer,  a  glasse  hoff  setyl  set  in  sellfer  gyld.  I  pra  you  tak 
hit  in  wort.  An  hy  wer  habel  het  showlde  be  bater.  I  woll 
hit  war  wort  a  m  crone. ' ' 

Translated, — "My  very  good  lord.  Here  I  send  you,  in 
token  of  the  new  year,  a  glass  of  setyll  set  in  silver  gilt.  I 
pray  you  take  it  in  worth.  An  I  were  able  it  should  be  bet* 
ter.  I  would  it  were  worth  a  thousand  crowns." 

High- Sounding  Prologue. 

In  a  medical  work  entitled  "The  Breviarie  of  Health," 
published  in  1547,  by  Andrew  Borde,  a  physician  of  that 
period,  is  a  prologue  to  physicians,  beginning  thus — 

"Egregious  doctors  and  masters  of  the  eximious  and  arcane 
science  of  physic,  of  your  urbanity  exasperate  not  yourselves 
against  me  for  making  this  little  volume." 

Inducements  to  Subscribers. 

For  journals  to  offer  inducements  to  subscribers  is  not  a 
modern  feature.  A  book  was  published  in  1764,  entitled 


35 

"A  New  History  of  England,  Manchester,  printed  by  Joseph 
Harrop,  opposite  the  Exchange."  At  the  end  of  this  octavo 
volume,  which  consists  of  778  pages,  is  the  following: — 

"To  THE  PUBLIC. 

"The  History  of  England  being  now  brought  down  to  that 
period  which  was  at  first  proposed,  the  Publisher  takes  this 
opportunity  of  returning  his  thanks  to  his  friends  and  sub- 
scribers for  the  kind  encouragement  they  have  given  his  News 
Paper;  and  hopes  that  as  he  has  steadily  persevered  in  going 
through  with,  and  given  gratis,  The  History  of  England,  at 
the  Expence  of  upwards  of  One  Hundred  Pounds,  they  will 
still  continue  their  Subscription  to  his  paper,  which  he  will 
spare  neither  pains  nor  assiduity  to  render  worthy  their 
perusal.  Jos.  HARROP." 

Composition  During  Sleep. 

Condorcet  is  said  to  have  attained  the  occlusion  of  some 
of  his  most  abstruse,  unfinished  calculations  in  his  dreams. 
Franklin  makes  a  similar  admission  concerning  some  of  his 
political  projects  which,  in  his  waking  moments,  sorely  puz- 
zled him.  Sir  J.  Herschel  is  said  to  have  composed  the  fol- 
lowing lines  in  a  dream: — 

"Throw  thyself  on  thy  God,  nor  mock  Him  with  feeble  denial; 

Sure  of  His  love,  and,  oh!  sure  of  His  mercy  at  last ! 
Bitter  and  deep  though  the  draught,  yt  drain  thou  the  cup  of  thy  trial, 
And  in  its  healing  effect,  smile  at  the  bitterness  past." 

Goethe  says  in  his  "Memoirs,"  "The  objects  which  had 
occupied  my  attention  during  the  day  often  reappeared  at 
night  in  connected  dreams.  On  awakening,  a  new  compo- 
sition, or  a  portion  of  one  I  had  already  commenced,  pre- 
sented itself  to  my  mind.  In  the  morning  I  was  accustomed 


36 

to  record  ray  ideas  on  paper."  Coleridge  composed  his  poem 
of  the  "Abyssinian  Maid"  during  a  dream.  Something 
analogous  to  this  is  what  Lord  Cockburn  says  in  his  "Life  of 
Lord  Jeffrey."  "He  had  a  fancy  that  though  he  went  to  bed 
with  bis  head  stuffed  with  the  names,  dates  and  other  details 
of  various  causes,  they  were  all  in  order  in  the  morning; 
which  he  accounted  for  by  saying  that  during  sleep  '  they  all 
crystallized  round  their  proper  centres.1 " 

A  Bill  of  Particulars. 

A  certain  gentleman  of  Worcester  (Mass.)  sent  a  very  fine 
French  clock  to  a  well-known  jeweler  to  be  repaired,  saying 
that  he  wished  each  item  of  repairing  specified.      The  follow- 
ing is  a  copy  of  the  bill  as  rendered: — 
To  removing  the  alluvial  deposit  and  oleaginous  con- 
glomerate from  clock  a  la  French,          .          .  $0.50 
To  replacing  in  appropriate  juxtaposition  the  constituent 

components  of  said  clock,  .  .  .  .50 

To  lubricating  with  oleaginous  solution  the  apex  of  pin- 
ions of  said  clock,       .  .  .  .         .50 
To  adjusting  horologically  the  isochronal  mechanism  of 

said  clock,  .  .  .  .  .50 

To  equalizing  the  acoustic  resultant  of  escape  wheel  per- 
cussion upon  the  verge  pallets  of  said  clock,  .  .50 
To  adjusting  the  distance  between  the  centre  of  gravity 
of  the  pendulum  and  its  point  of  suspension,  so  that 
the  vibrations  of  the  pendulum  shall  cause  the  index 
hand  to  indicate  approximately  the  daily  arrival  of 
the  sun  at  its  meridian  height,  .  .  .50 

$3-°° 

Lilly's  Predictions. 

While  Lilly  is  ridiculed  for  his  absurdities,  let  him  have 
credit  for  as  lucky  a  guess  as  ever  blessed  the  pages  even  of 


3T 

"Francis  Moore,  Physician."  In  Lilly's  "Astrological  Pre- 
dictions for  1648,"  there  occurs  the  following  passage,  in 
which  we  must  allow  that  he  attained  to  "something  like  pro- 
phetic strain,"  when  we  call  to  mind  that  the  Great  Plague 
of  London  occurred  in  1665,  and  the  Great  Fire  in  the  year 
following: — 

"In  the  year  1656,  the  aphelium  of  Mars,  who  is  the  general 
signification  of  England,  will  be  in  Virgo,  which  is  assuredly 
the  ascendant  of  the  English  monarchy,  but  Aries  of  the  king- 
dom. When  this  absis,  therefore,  of  Mars  shall  appear  in 
Virgo,  who  shall  expect  less  than  a  strange  catastrophe  of 
human  affairs  in  the  commonwealth,  monarchy  and  king- 
dom of  England?  There  will  then,  either  in  or  about  these 
times,  or  within  ten  years,  more  or  less,  of  that  time,  appear 
in  this  kingdom  so  strange  a  revolution  of  fate,  so  grand  a 
catastrophe,  and  great  mutation  unto  this  monarchy  and  gov- 
ernment as  never  yet  appeared ;  of  which,  as  the  times  now 
stand,  I  have  no  liberty  or  encouragement  to  deliver  any 
opinion.  Only,  it  will  be  ominous  to  London,  unto  her  mer- 
chants at  sea,  to  her  traffique  at  land,  to  her  poor,  to  her  rich, 
to  all  sorts  of  peop  'e  inhabiting  in  her  or  her  liberties,  BY  REA- 
SON OF  SUNDRY  FlRES  AND  A  PLAGUE." 

This  is  the  prediction  which,  in  1666,  led  to  Lilly's  being 
examined  by  a  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons;  not,  as 
has  been  supposed,  that  he  might  "discover  by  the  stars  who 
wsre  the  authors  of  the  Fire  of  London,"  but  because  the 
precision  with  which  he  was  thought  to  have  foretold  the 
events  gave  birth  to  a  suspicion  that  he  was  already  acquainted 
with  them,  and  privy  to  the  (supposed)  machinations  which 
had  brought  about  the  catastrophe.  Curran  says  there  are 
two  kinds  of  prophets — those  who  are  really  inspired  and 
those  who  prophecy  events  which  they  themselves  intend  to 
bring  about.  Upon  this  occasion  poor  Lilly  had  the  ila-*uck 
to  be  deemed  of  the  latter  class. 


38 

Puritan  Surnames. 

The  following  names  are  given  in  Lower's  English  sirnames, 
as  specimens  of  the  names  of1  the  old  Puritans  in  England 
about  the  year  1658.  They  are  taken  from  a  jury  list  in 
Sussex  county: — 

Faint-not  Hewett.  Accepted  Trevor. 

Redeemed  Compton.  Stand-fast-on-high  Stringer. 

God-reward  Smart.  Called  Lower. 

Earth  Adams.  Be-courteous  Cole. 

Meek  Brewer.  Search-the-Scriptures  Morton. 

Repentance  Avis.  Return  Spelman. 

Kill-sin  Pimple.  Fly-debate  Roberts. 

Be-faithful  Joiner.  Hope-for  Bending. 

More-fruit  Flower.  Weep-not  Billing. 

Grace-ful  Harding.  Elected  Mitchell. 

Seek-wisdom  Wood.  The-peace-of-God  Knight. 

Fight-the-good- fight  of  Faith.     Make-peace  Heaton. 

Curious  Old  Memorandum. 

We  have  supposed  that  no  record  of  our  Saviour's  life  older 
than  the  New  Testament  was  known  to  exist;  but  it  seems 
that  a  venerable  journal  is  carefully  preserved  in  Nablous 
(ancient  Samaria),  in  which  the  following  item  appears  in  the 
handwriting  of  one  of  the  Samaritan  high  priests: — 

"In  the  year  from  Adam  4281,  in  the  nineteenth  year  of 
my  pontificate,  Jesus,  the  Son  of  'Mary,  was  crucified  at 
Jerusalem." 

This  curious  and  interesting  record  was  shown  by  the 
present  high  priest,  who  keeps  it  among  the  archives  of  his 
church,  to  Dr.  El  Kary,  a  Protestant  missionary  of  Jewish 
descent  and  a  native  of  Nablous.  The  doctor  learned  that 
the  old  journals  of  the  priests  of  the  Samaritan  synagogue  are 


39 

still  in  existence,  dating  back  to  fifty  or  sixty  years  before 
Christ  was  born.  It  was  the  custom,  he  says,  of  all  the 
high  priests  to  set  down  in  their  books  any  notable  events  that 
happened  during  their  term  of  office.  He  also  learned  that 
the  tenth  Samaritan  high  priest  was  named  Shaboth,  who 
lived  in  the  days  of  our  Saviour,  and  it  was  this  Shaboth  who 
wrote  the  record  quoted  above. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Jesus  visited  Samaria  in  the 
early  part  of  His  ministry,  where  He  first  talked  with  the 
woman  at  Jacob's  well,  and  afterwards  stayed  two  days  in  the 
city,  where  He  attracted  public  attention  to  His  preaching, 
and  won  many  followers.  During  those  days  Shaboth  may 
have  become  personally  acquainted  with  Him,  and,  though 
far  from  being  His  disciple,  he  would  naturally  follow  Jesus' 
after-history  and  movements  with  considerable  interest. 

We  gather  the  above  account  from  the  letter  of  an  Eastern 
correspondent  to  the  Advance  (Chicago),  who  spent  some 
time  in  Nablous,  and  received  the  statements  from  Dr.  El  Kary. 


Double- Entendre. 

This  double-entendre  was  originally  published  in  a  Phila- 
delphia newspaper  a  hundred  years  ago.  It  may  be  read 
three  different  ways:  First,  let  the  whole  be  read  in  the  order 
in  which  it  is  written;  second,  read  the  lines  downward  on 
the  left  of  each  comma  in  every  line;  third,  in  the  same  man- 
ner on  the  right  of  each  comma.  In  the  first  reading  i.he 
Revolutionary  cause  is  condemned,  and  by  the  others  it  is 
encouraged  and  lauded — 

Hark!  Hark!  the  trumpet  sounds,  the  din  of  war's  alarms, 

O'er  seas  and  solid  grounds,  doth  call  us  all  to  arms; 

Who  for  King  George  doth  stand,  their  honors  soon  shall  shine; 

Their  ruin  is  at  hand,  who  with  the  Congress  join. 

The  acts  of  Parliament,  in  them  I  much  delight, 

I  Late  their  cursed  intent,  who  for  the  Congress  fight; 


40 

The  Tories  of  the  day,  they  are  my  daily  toast, 
They  soon  will  sneak  away,  who  independence  boast; 
Who  non-resistance  hold,  they  hive  my  hand  and  heart, 
May  they  for  slaves  be  sold,  who  act  a  Whiggish  part ;. 
On  Mansfield,  North  and  Bute,  may  daily  blessings  pour, 
Confusion  and  dispute,  on  Congress  evermore ; 
To  North  and  British  lord,  may  honors  still  be  done, 
I  wish  a  block  or  cord,  to  General  Washington. 

Changes  of  Signification. 

The  meaning  of  the  word  wretch  is  one  not  generally 
understood.  It  was  originally,  and  is  now,  in  some  parts  of 
England,  used  as  a  term  of  fondest  tenderness.  This  is  not 
the  only  instance  in  which  words  in  their  present  general 
acceptation  bear  a  very  opposite  meaning  to  what  they  did  in 
other  times.  The  word  wench,  formerly,  was  not  used  in  the 
low  and  vulgar  acceptation  that  it  now  is. 

Don  Quixote's  Sheep. 

Don  Quixote's  mistaking  two  flocks  of  sheep  for  two  armies 
is  not  without  parallel.  In  Ariosto's  Orlando  Furioso,  written 
1516,  the  hero,  in  his  madness,  falls  foul  of  a  flock  of  sheep. 

Still  more  ancient  is  "Ajax  Mad,"  a  tragedy  founded  on 
the  madness  of  Ajax,  because  of  the  armor  of  Hector  being 
awarded  to  Ulysses  instead  of  himself.  In  his  insanity,  Ajax 
fell  upon  a  flock  of  sheep,  driven  at  night  into  the  camp,  sup- 
posing it  to  be  an  army  led  by  Ulysses  and  the  sons  of  Atreus. 
On  discovering  his  mistake  he  stabs  himself. 

The  Oldest  Ballad. 

The  earliest  English  ballad  is  supposed  to  be  the  "Cuckoo 
Song,"  which  commences  in  the  following  style: — 


41 

'  Sumer  is  mcumen  in 
Lhude  sing  cuccu, 
Groweth  sed,  and  bloweth  med, 
And  sprigth  ye  wede  nu, 
Singe  cuccu." 


Two  Certificates  of  Gr etna- Green 
Marriages. 

"  This  is  to  sartfay  all  persons  that  may  be  consern'd,  that 
A.  B.,  from  the  parish  of  C.  in  the  county  of  D.,  and  E.  F., 
from  the  parish  of  G.,  in  the  county  of  H.,  and  both  comes 
before  me  and  declares  themselves  both  to  be  single  persons, 
and  now  mayried  by  the  form  of  the  Kirk  of  Scotland,  and 
agreible  to  the  Church  of  England,  and  givine  ondre  my 
hand,  this  i8th  day  of  March  1793." 

"Kingdom  of  Scotland, 
"County  of  Dumfries, 
"Parish  of  Gretna: 

"These  are  to  certify,  to  all  whom  it  may  concern,  that 

John  N ,  from  the  parish  of  Chatham,  in  the  County  of 

Kent,  and  Rosa  H ,  from  the  parish  of  St.  Maries,  in  the 

County  of  Nottingham,  being  both  here  now  present,  and  hav- 
ing declared  to  me  that  they  are  single  persons,  but  having 
now  been  married  conformable  to  the  Laws  of  the  Church  of 
England,  and  agreeable  to  the  Kirk  of  Scotland.  As  witness 
our  hands  at  Springfield,  this  4th  day  of  October,  1822. 

"Witness  me, 
"Witness,  David  Lang. 

Jane  Rae.  John  N . 

John  Ainsle.  Rosa  H ." 


42 

Swift's  Latin  Puns. 

Among  the  nugae  of  Dean  Swift  are  his  celebrated  Latin 
pans.  They  consist  entirely  of  Latin  words,  but,  by  allowing 
for  false  spelling,  and  running  the  words  into  each  other,  the 
sentences  make  good  sense  in  English.  The  subjoined  is  one 
of  his  best — 

Mollis  abuti,  Moll  is  a  beauty. 

Has  an  acuti,  Has  an  acute  eye. 

No  lasso  finis,  Nc  lass  so  fine  is. 

Molli  divinis.  Molly  divine  is. 

Omi  de  armis  tres,  O  my  dear  mistress. 

Imi  na  dis  tres,  I'm  in  distress. 

Cantu  disco  ver  Can't  you  discover. 

Meas  alo  ver?  Me  as  a  lover? 


Rhyming  Charter. 

The  following  grant  of  William  the  Conqueror  may  be 
found  in  Stowe's  Chronicle  and  in  Blount's  Ancient  Tenures: 

HOPTON,  IN  THE   COUNTY  OF  SALOP. 
To  THE  HEYRS  MALE  OF  THE  HOPTON,  LAWFULLY  BEGOTTEN. 

From  me  and  from  myne,  to  thee  and  to  thyne, 

While  the  water  runs,  and  the  sun  doth  shine, 

For  lack  of  heyrs  to  the  king  againe, 

I,  William,  King,  the  third  year  of  my  reign, 

Give  to  the  Norman  hunter, 

To  me  that  art  both  line  (*)  and  deare, 

The  Hop  and  the  Hoptoune, 

And  all  the  bounds  up  and  downe, 

Under  the  earth  to  hell, 

Above  the  earth  to  heaven, 

From  me  and  from  myne, 

To  thee  and  to  thyne ; 


43 

As  good  and  as  fr.ire 

As  ever  they  myne  were. 

To  witness  that  this  is  sooth,f 

I  bite  the  white  wax  with  my  tooth, 

Before  Judd,  Marode  and  Margery, 

And  my  third  son  Henery, 

For  one  bow,  and  one  broad  arrow, 

When  I  come  to  hunt  upon  the  Yarrow. 

Accidental  Rhymes. 

In  President  Lincoln's  last  inaugural  address  occurs  the  fol- 
lowing instance  of  involuntary  rhyme: — 

"  Fondly  do  we  hope, 
Fervently  do  we  pray, 
That  this  mighty  scourge  of  war 
May  speedily  pass  away ; 
Yet,  if  it  be  God's  will 
That  it  continue  until — " 

And  here  the  rhyme  ceases.  Cicero's  prose  shows,  in 
places,  similar  instances  of  involuntary  rhyme. 

Ccesar's  Wife  must  be  above  Suspicion. 

No  doubt  this  proverb  originated  from  a  passage  in 
Suetonius,  which  says  that  "the  name  of  Pompeia,  the  wife 
of  Julius  Caesar,  having  been  mixed  up  with  an  accusation 
against  P.  Clodius,  her  husband  divorced  her;  not,  as  he  said, 
because  he  believed  the  charge  against  her,  but  because  he 
would  have  those  belonging  to  him  as  free  from  suspicion  as 
from  crime." 

Oddly  Addressed  Letters. 

On   one   occasion   a   letter  arrived   by  post  in   London, 
*  Related,  or  by  lineage.  f  True. 


44 

directed  to  "Sromfridevi,  Angleterre."  No  such  person  had 
ever  been  heard  of;  but,  on  a  little  consideration,  and  judg- 
ing from  the  sound,  it  was  obvious  that  the  foreign  writer  of 
the  letter  meant  Sir  Humphrey  Davy,  and  such  proved  to  be 
the  case.  Some  years  since  there  was  returned  to  the  French 
Dead  Letter  Office  a  letter  which  had  gone  the  round  of  every 
seaport  in  the  Levant,  and  the  ambiguity  of  whose  super- 
scription had  baffled  a  legion  of  postmasters.  It  was 
addressed,  "J.  Dubois,  Sultan  Crete,"  and  was  intended  for 
J.  Dubois  SurU  Tancrede,  a  quartermaster  on  board  of  the 
ship  Tancrede.  The  name  and  address  had  been  written  just 
as  they  had  sounded  to  the  ear.  A  letter  addressed  as  follows 
arrived  safely  at  its  destination : — 

Wood, 

John, 

Mass. 

It  was  for  John  Underwood,  Andover,  Massachusetts. 

Amusements  of  some  Learned  Men. 

Tycho  Brake  polished  glass  for  spectacles,  and  made 
mathematical  instruments;  D'Andilly  delighted  in  forest 
trees;  Balzac,  in  manufacturing  crayons;  Pieresc,  in  his 
medals  and  antiques;  the  Abbe  de  Marolles,  in  engravings. 
Renault's  greatest  recreation  was  in  watching  different 
mechanics  at  their  labor;  Arnauld  and  Warbnrton  read  trashy 
novels  for  recreation;  Montaigne  fondled  his  cat;  Cardinal 
Richelieu  enjoyed  leaping. 


Kant's  Eccentricity. 

Kant  was  probably  the  profoundest  of  metaphysicians  that 
the  world  has  yet  seen.     It  was  his  custom,  when  deeply 


45 


engaged  upon  some  abstruse  topic,  to  walk  backward  and  for- 
ward, upon  a  moonlight  evening,  along  the  avenue  (bordered 
on  each  side  with  magnificent  trees)  approaching  his  house. 
He  was  observed,  on  one  occasion,  as  he  slowly,  in  deep 
meditation,  moved  backward  and  forward  along  the  avenue, 
to  leap  over  the  shadows  of  the  trees  as  they  cast  themselves 
before  him  in  his  meditative  walk.  The  delusion  was  strong 
upon  him  that  these  same  shadows  were  ditches,  and  that  it 
was  incumbent  upon  him  that  he  should  clear  them,  and  that 
precisely  in  the  way  he  did.  Such  are  the  occasional  abber- 
rations  of  true  genius. 

Death  Warrant  of  the  Saviour. 

Of  the  many  interesting  relics   brought  to  light  by  the 
researches  of  antiquarians,  none  could  be  more  interesting  to 
Christians  than  the  following,  which  is  faithfully  transcribed — 
"Sentence  by  Pontius  Pilate,  acting 
Governor  of  Lower  Galilee,  stating  that 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  shall  suffer  death 
On  the  cross. 

In  the  year  seventeen  of  the  Emperor  Tiberius  Caesar,  and 
the  27th  day  of  March,  the  city  of  the  holy  Jerusalem — Annas 
and  Caiaphas  being  priests,  sacrificators  of  the  people  of  God — 
Pontius  Pilate,  Governor  of  Lower  Galilee,  sitting  in  the 
presidential  chair  of  the  praetory,  condemns  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
to  die  on  the  cross  between  two  thieves,  the  great  and  notori- 
ous evidence  of  the  people  saying— 

1.  Jesus  is  a  seducer. 

2.  He  is  seditious. 

3.  He  is  the  enemy  of  the  law. 

4.  He  calls  himself  falsely  the  Son  of  God. 

5.  He  calls  himself  falsely  the  King  of  Israel. 

6.  He  entered  into  the  temple  followed  by  a  multitude 
bearing  palm  branches  in  their  hands. 


46 

Orders  the  first  centurian,  Quilius  Cornelius,  to  lead  him 
to  the  place  of  execution. 

Forbids  any  person  whatsoever,  either  poor  or  rich,  to 
oppose  the  death  of  Jesus  Christ. 

The  witnesses  who  signed  the  condemnation  of  Jesus  are — 

1.  Daniel  Robani,  a  Pharisee. 

2.  Joannus  Robani. 

3.  Raphael  Robani. 

4.  Capet,  a  citizen. 

Jesus  shall  go  out  of  the  city  of  Jerusalem  by  the  gate  of 
Struenus." 

The  foregoing  is  engraved  on  a  copper  plate,  on  the  reverse 
of  which  is  written,  "A  similar  plate  is  sent  to  each  tribe." 
It  was  found  in  an  antique  marble  vase,  while  excavating  in 
the  ancient  city  of  Aquilla,  in  the  kingdom  of  Naples,  in 
1810,  and  was  discovered  by  the  Commissioners  of  Arts  of 
the  French  Army.  At  the  expedition  of  Naples,  it  was 
enclosed  in  a  box  of  ebony  and  preserved  in  the  sacristy  of 
the  Carthusians.  The  French  translation  was  made  by  the 
Commissioners  of  Arts.  The  original  is  in  the  Hebrew 
language. 

Quaint  Recipes. 

The  following  recipes  are  taken  from  a  work  entitled 
"New  Curiosities  in  Art  and  Nature,  or  a  collection  of  the 
most  valuable  Secrets  in  all  Arts  and  Sciences.  Composed 
and  Experimented  by  Sieur  Lemery,  Apothecary  to  the 
French  King.  London,  1711." 

To  Make  one  Wake  or  Sleep. — You  must  cut  off,  dexterously, 
the  head  of  a  toad  alive,  and  at  once,  and  let  it  dry,  observ- 
ing th P. t  one  eye  be  shut  and  the  other  open;  that  which  is 
found  open  makes  one  wake,  and  that  shut  causes  sleep,  by 
carrying  it  about  one. 


47 

Preservative  against  the  Plague. — Take  three  or  four  great 
toads,  seven  or  eight  spiders,  and  as  many  scorpions,  put  them 
into  a  pot  well  stopp'd,  and  let  them  lye  some  time;  then 
add  virgin-wax,  make  a  good  fire  till  all  become  a  liquor; 
then  mingle  them  all  with  a  spatula,  and  make  an  ointment, 
and  put  it  into  a  silver  box  well  stopp'd,  being  well  assured 
that  while  you  carry  it  about  you,  you  will  never  be  infected 
with  the  plague. 

These  recipes  indicate  the  delusion  which  prevailed  with 
respect  to  certain  nostrums  as  late  as  1711. 

Chronological  Table  of  Remarkable 
Events. 

The  following  curious  table  is  taken  from  Arthur  Hopton'a 
"  Concordancie  of  Years, "  1615: — 

1077 — A  blazing  star  on  Palm  Sunday,  near  the  sun. 

1 100 — The  yard  (measure)  made  by  Henry  I. 

1116 — The  moone  seemed  turned  into  bloud. 

1128 — Men  wore  haire  like  women. 

1180 — Paris  in  France,  and  London  in  Englande,  paued,  and 

thatching  in  both  left,  because  all  Luberick  was  spoiled 

thereby  with  fire. 

1189 — Robin  Hood  and  Little  John  lived.     This  yeare  Lon- 
don obtained  to  be  gouerned  by  Sheriffes  and  Maiors. 
1205 — By  reason  of  a  frost  from  January  to  March  wheate 

was  sold  for  a  marke  the  quarter,  which  before  was  at 

twelve  pence. — Anno  Regni  6.  John. 
1209 — London  bridge  builded  with  stone;  and  this  yeare  the 

citizens  of  London  had  a  grant  to  choose  them  a  maior. 
1227 — The  citizens  of  London  had  libertie  to  hunt  a  certain 

distance  about  the  citie,  and  to  pass  toll-free  through 

England. 


48 

— Thunder  lasted  fifteen  dales;  beginning  the  morrow 
after  St.  Martin's  day. 

1233 — Four  sunnes  appeared,  beside  the  true  sunne,  of  a  red 
colour. 

j  235—  The  Jews  of  Norwich  stole  a  boy  and  circumcised  him, 
minding  to  have  him  crucified  at  Easter. 

^47 — The  king  farmed  Queene-hiue  for  fifty  pounds  per 
annum,  to  the  citizens. 

4252 — Great  tempests  upon  the  sea,  and  fearful;  and  this 
year  the  king  (Henry  III.)  granted,  that  wheretofore 
the  citizens  of  London  were  to  present  the  maior  before 
the  king,  wheresoeuer  he  were,  that  now  barons  of  the 
exchequer  should  serue  (serve). 

1292 — The  Jews  corrupting  England  with  vsury,  had  first  a 
badge  giuen  them  to  weare,  that  they  might  be  knowne, 
and  after  were  banished  to  the  number  of  150,000 
persons. 

1313 — This  yeare  the  king  of  France  burned  all  his  leporous 
and  pocky  people,  as  well  men  as  women;  for  that 
he  supposed  they  had  poysoned  the  waters,  which 
caused  his  leprosie.  About  this  time,  also,  the  Jews 
had  a  purpose  to  poyson  all  the  Christians,  by  poyson- 
ing  all  their  springs. 

1361 — Men  and  beasts  perished  in  diuers  places  with  thunder 
and  lightning,  and  fiends  were  scene  speake  unto  men 
as  they  trauelled. 

1386 — The  making  of  gunnes  found;  and  rebels  in  Kent  and 
Essex,  who  entered  London,  beheaded  all  lawyers,  and 
burnt  houses  and  all  bookes  of  law. 

1388 — Picked  shoes,  tyed  to  their  knees  with  siluer  chains, 
were  vsed.  And  women  with  long  gownes  rode  in 
side-saddles,  like  the  queen,  that  brought  side-saddles 
first  to  England;  for  before  they  rode  astrid. 

1401 — Pride  exceeding  in  monstrous  apparreli. 


49 

141 1 — Guildhall  in  London  begun. 

1417 — A  decree  for  lantherne  and  candle-light  in  London. 

1427 — Rain  from  the  ist  of  Aprill  to  Hollontide. 

Hymn  in  the  Form,  of  a  Cross. 

The  following  hymn  was  composed  by  a  Christian  monk 
during  the  middle  ages: — 

THE  CROSS. 

Blest  they  who  seek 

While  in  their  youth, 

With     spirit    meek, 

The   way  of  truth. 

To  them  the  sacred  Scriptures  now  display 
Christ  as  the  only  true  and  living  way; 
His  precious  blood  on  Calvary  was  given 
To  make  them  heirs  of  endless  bliss  in  heaven. 
And  e'en  on  earth  the  child  of  God  can  trace 
The  glorious  blessings  of  his  Saviour's  face. 

For  them  He  bore 

His  Father's  frown, 

For  them  He  wore 

The  thcrny  crown; 

Nailed  to  the  cross, 

Endured    its     pain 

That  His  life's  loss 

Might  be  their  gain. 

Then  haste  to  choose 

That  better    part, 

Nor    dare   refuse 

The  Lord  your  heart, 

Lest  He   declare — 

"I  know  you  not!" 

And    deep    despair 

Shall  be    your  lot. 

Now  look    to    Jesus  who    on    Calvary  died, 
And  trust  on  Him  alone  who  there  was  crucified. 


50 


Curious  Piece  of  Antiquity,  on  the  Cruet" 

nxion  of  our  Saviour  and  the  two 

Thieves. 


—  — 
INRI 

1  My  God!  My  God! 

vers  of  my  tears 

I  come  to  Thee  ; 

bow  clown  thy  blessed  ears 

To  hear  me,  wretch,  oh 

let  thine  eyes,  which  sleep 

Did  never  close, 

behold  a  sinner  weep. 

Let  not,  O  God  ! 

my  God  !  my  faults,  though  great 

And  numberless,  bet 

w 

een  thy  mercy-seat 

And  my  poor  soul  be  t 

n 

h 

rown,  since  we  are  taught. 

n 

_] 

Thou,|  Lord! 

L_ 

remember  1  est  th 

y 

ne,                 If  thou  beest     (sought. 
1            i       =—  _l 

I  CO 

me 

not,  Lord,  wit 

h 

any  o 

trie 

r  merit 

Than 

\vh 

at  I  by  my  S 

a 

vif»ur 

Ch 

rist  inherit  : 

Beth 

en 

his  wound 

s 

my  balm,  his  st 

ri 

pes  my  bliss, 

My  crown  his 

th 

cms,  my  dea 

t 

hbelo 

st 

in  his, 

And  th 

ou 

my  bles 

t 

Redeemer, 

Sa 

viour  God! 

Quit  my  ac- 

CO 

unts,  with 

h 

old  thy 

V 

engeful  rod; 

O  beg  for 

me 

my  h 

0 

pes  on  the 

e 

are  set, 

Thou  Chri 

st 

forgi 

u 

e,  as  well  as  pay 

th 

e  debt. 

The  liv 

if) 

g  fount,  the  li 

f 

e,  the  wa 

y 

I  know; 

And  but 

to 

thee 

0 

whither 

s 

hould  I  go  ? 

Allo 

th 

er  helps  a 

r 

e  vain,  giv 

e 

thine  to  me; 

For  by  th 

y 

cross  my 

s 

aving  hea 

1 

th  must  be. 

Oh  hear 

k 

en  then,  wh 

a 

t  I  with 

f 

aith  implore, 

Lest  s 

in 

and  death  sin 

k 

me  forev 

e 

r  more. 

Oh  Lord  \  my 

G 

od  !  my  way 

e 

s  direct 

a 

nd  keep, 

In 

d 

eath  defe 

n 

d  that  from  thee  I 

n 

e'er  slip; 

And  at  the  do 

om 

let 

m 

c  be  raise 

d 

then, 

To  liv 

e 

•IBM 

with  the 

e. 

Sweet  Jes 

us 

say,  Amen  ? 

EXPLANATION. 
The  middle  cross  represents  our  Saviour;  those  on  either  side,  the  two 


51 

thieves.  On  the  top  and  down  the  middle  cross  are  our  Saviour's  expression, 
"My  God!  My  God!  why  hast  thou  forsaken  me?"  and  on  the  top  of  the 
cross  is  the  Latin  inscription  "INRI" — Jesus  Nazarenus  Rex  Judseorum, 
i.  e.  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  King  of  the  Jews.  Upon  the  cross  on  the  right-hand 
is  the  prayer  of  one  of  the  thieves : — "Lord !  remember  me  when  thou  comest 
into  thy  kingdom."  On  the  left-hand  cross  is  the  saying,  or  reproach,  of 
the  other:  "If  thou  beest  the  Chrht,  save  thyself  and  us."  The  whole, 
comprised  together,  makes  a  piece  of  excellent  poetry,  which  is  to  be  read 
across  all  the  columns,  and  makes  as  many  lines  as  there  are  letters  in  the 
alphabet.  It  is  perhaps  one  of  the  most  curious  pieces  of  composition  to 
be  found  on  record. 


Copy  of  a  Letter  written  by  Cardinal 

Richelieu  to  the  French  Ambas- 
sador at  Rome. 

First  read  the  letter  across,  then  double  it  in  the  middle, 
and  read  the  first  column. 

SIR. — Mons.Compigne,aSavoyard  by  birth,  a    Friar    of  the    order    of  Saint    Benedict, 

is   the    man    who      will      present     to   you  as      his      passport      to      your      protection, 

this     letter.       He     is     one     of    the     most  discreet,       the      wisest      and      the      least 

meddling  persons   that  I   have   ever  known  or  have   had  the  pleasure  to  converse  with. 

He      has      long       earnestly     solicited     me  to      write      to      you    in     his      favor,     and 

to      give      him       a      suitable       character,  together      with      a      letter      of     credence ; 

which      I     have      accordingly      granted     to  his   real  merit,   rather  I   must  say,  than  to 

his    importunity  ;     for,      believe     me,     Sir,  his  modesty  is  only  exceeded  by  his  worth, 

I     should     be     sorry    that    you    should    be  wanting  in  serving  him  on  account  of  being 

misinformed      of      his       real       character;  I      should      be       afflicted       if     you     were 

as    some     ether     gentlemen      have      been,  misled  on  that  score,  who  now  esteem  him, 

and  those   among   the  best   of  my   friends;  w!\eref>re,     and      from     no     other     motive 

I    think    it     my     duty     to     advertise     you  that    you     are     most     particularly    desired, 

to    have   especial   attention   to   all  he  docs,  to    show    him    all   the   respect    imaginable, 

nor  venture  to  say  any  thing   before  him,  that  may   either    offend     or    displease    him 

in   any  sort;  for  I  may  truly  say,   there   is  no  man   I  love  so  much  as  M.   Ccrnpigne, 

none  whom   I   should    more    regret   to   see  negiccted,  as  no  one  can  be  more  wonhy  to  be 

received      and    trusted    in    decent    society.  B.ISC,  therefore,  would  it  be  to  injure  him. 

Ar.J    1   well    know,    that    as    soon   as  you  are     made     sensible     of    his    virtues,    and 

shall       become        acquainted       with      him  you    will    love     him     as    I    do;    and   then 

you    will    thank    me    for   this    my    advice.  The       assurance      I      entertain      of     your 

Courtesy      obliges      me      to      desist     from  urgiiig     this     matter    to     you     firther,    or 
Mying  any  thing  more  on  this  subject.  Believe  me,  Sir,  &c.,  RICHELIEU. 


52 

Passage  through  the  Isthmus  of  Panama, 

Suggested  Three  Hundred  Years  Ago. 

In  the  Town  Library  (Stadt  BibliotheK)  of  Nuremberg  is 
preserved  an  interesting  globe,  made  by  John  Schoner,  pro- 
fessor of  mathematics  in  the  gymnasium  there,  A.  D.  1520. 
It  is  very  remarkable  that  the  passage  through  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama,  so  much  sought  after  in  later  times,  is,  on  this  old 
globe,  carefully  delineated. 

A  False  Conclusion. 

Amongst  the  deliramenta  of  the  learned,  which  have 
amused  mankind,  the  following  deserves  a  place: — 

In  1815  a  noted  London  professor  occupied  a  window 
which  overlooked  the  college  garden.  Amid  the  trees  in  the 
latter  a  number  of  rooks  had  taken  up  their  abode.  A  young 
gentleman,  who  lodged  in  an  attic  opposite,  frequently  amused 
himself  by  shooting  the  rooks  with  a  cross-bow.  The  pro- 
fessor noticed  that  the  birds  frequently  dropped  senseless  from 
their  perches,  no  sound  being  heard,  no  person  being  visible. 
It  was  a  strange  phenomenon,  and  he  set  his  wits  to  work  to 
account  for  the  cause  of  it.  At  length  he  became  fully  satis- 
fied that  he  had  made  a  great  ornithological  discovery  which 
would  add  vastly  to  his  fame.  He  actually  wrote  a  learned 
treatise,  stating  what  he  had  seen,  and  declaring  that  it  was  a 
settled  conviction  in  his  mind  that  rooks  were  subject  to  falling 
sickness. 

Posies  from  Wedding  Rings. 

Hamlet. — Is  this  a  prologue,  or  a  posy  of  a  ring? 
The  following  posies  were  transcribed  by  an  indefatigable 
collector,  from  old  wedding  rings,  chiefly  of  the  seventeenth 


53 


and  eighteenth  centuries. 

altered : — 

Death  never  parts 
Such  loving  hearts. 

In  thee,  my  choice, 
I  do  rejoice.     1677. 

A  heart  content 
Need  ne'er  repent. 

All  I  refuse, 

And  thee  I  choose. 

In  thee,  dear  wife, 
I  find  new  life. 

This  ring  doth  bind 
Body  and  mind. 


The  orthography  is,  in  most  cases, 

Joy  day  and  night 
Be  our  delight. 

Endless  as  this, 

Shall  be  our  bliss.     1719. 

God  alone 
Made  us  two  one. 

I  change  the  life 
Of  maid  to  wife. 

No  gift  can  show 
The  love  I  owe. 

In  love  abide, 
Till  death  divide. 


Private  Expenses  of  Charles  II. 

Malone,  the  well-known  editor  of  Shakespeare,  possessed  a 
curious  volume — an  account  of  the  privy  expenses  of  Charles 
II.,  kept  by  Baptist  May.  A  few  extracts  from  Malone's 
transcripts  are  here  subjoined  : — 


My  Lord  St.  Alban's  bill, 

Lady  Castlemaine's  debts, 

For  grinding  cocoanuts, 

Paid  Lady  C.,  play-money, 

For  a  band  of  music, 

For  a  receipt  for  chocolate 

Lady  C.,  play-money, 

Mr.  Knight,  for  bleeding  the  king, 

Mr.  Price,  for  milking  the  asses, 


£ 

s. 

d. 

1,746 

18 

ii 

i,n6 

i 

o 

5 

8 

o 

300 

o 

0 

5° 

0 

o 

227 

o 

o 

300 

0 

o 

10 

o 

o 

10 

0 

o 

54 

Lady  C.,  play-money,       .        .        .        .  300  o  o 

To  one  that  showed  tumbler's  tricks,          .  5  7  6 

For  weighing  the  King,     .         ,         .      .-..-,        i  o  o 

The  Queen's  allowance,    .         «         .         .  1,250  o  o 

Lost  by  the  King  at  play  on  twelfth-night  .  220  o  o 

Nell  Gwyn,      .         .                  .         .         .  too  o  o 

For  3,685  ribbons  for  healing,  .         .         .  107  10  4 

Lord  Landerdale,  for  ballads,    .         .         .  500 
Paid  what  was  borrowed  for  the  Countess 

of  Castlemaine, 1,650  o  o 

First  Brick  House  in  Philadelphia. 

The  following  editorial  announcement  is  taken  from  the 
Philadelphia  Weekly  Mercury  of  November  3oth,  1752, 
because  it  is  a  novelty  in  its  way,  and  also  affords  an  insight 
into  the  degree  of  communication  which  existed  at  the  time 
between  large  towrjs  and  the  provinces  : — 

"On  Monday  next  the  Northern  Post  sets  out  from  New 
York,  in  order  to  perform  his  stage  but  once  a  fortnight, 
during  the  winter  quarter ;  the  Southern  Post  changes  also, 
which  will  cause  this  paper  to  come  out  on  Tuesdays  during 
that  time.  The  colds  which  have  infested  the  Northern 
Colonies  have  also  been  troublesome  here ;  few  families  have 
escaped  the  same,  several  have  been  carry'd  off  by  the  cold, 
among  whom  was  David  Brintnall,  in  the  77th  year  of  his  age ; 
he  was  the  first  man  that  had  a  brick  house  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  and  was  much  esteem'd  for  his  just  and  upright 
dealing.  There  goes  a  report  here  that  the  Lord  Baltimore 
and  his  lady  are  arrived  in  Maryland,  but  the  Southern  Post 
being  not  yet  come  in,  the  said  report  wants  confirmation." 

The  Pillory  in  Philadelphia. 

Among  the  local  items  of  news  in  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette, 


55 

published  in  Philadelphia,  and  bearing  date  of  November  4th, 
1772,  is  recorded  the  following  : — 

"At  the  Mayor's  Court,  held  in  this  city  last  week,  John 
Underwood,  for  counterfeiting  and  passing  counterfeit  money, 
of  this  province,  was  ordered  to  be  whipt,  stand  in  the 
pillory,  and  have  both  his  ears  cut  off  and  nailed  to  the  post; 
others  were  ordered  to  be  whipt  and  stand  in  the  pillory  for 
divers  felonies,  and  five  more  to  receive  the  discipline  of  the 
post,  which  was  put  in  execution  on  Saturday  last." 


One  Hundred  Years  too  Soon. 

The  following  appears  in  Baker's  Chronicle,  sub  anno  1524: 
"  In  this  yeere,  through  bookes  of  prognostications,  fore- 
showing much  hurt  by  waters  and  floods,  many  persons  with- 
drew themselves  to  high  grounds  for  feare  of  drowning;  spe- 
cially one  Bolton,  prior  of  St.  Bartholomew's,  in  Smithfield, 
builded  him  an  house  upon  Harrow  on  the  hill,  and  thither 
went  and  made  provision  for  two  moneths.  These  great 
waters  should  have  fallen  in  February,  but,  no  such  thing 
happening,  the  astronomers  excused  themselves  by  saying, 
that,  in  the  computation,  they  had  miscounted  in  their 
number  an  hundred  yeeres." 

The  Manner  of  Watchmen  Imitating  the 
Clock  at  Herrnhuth,  in  Germany. 

VIII. — Past  eight  o'clock  !  O,  Herrnhuth,  do  thou  ponder; 

Eight  souls  in  Noah's  Ark  were  living  yonder. 
IX. — "Tis  nine  o'clock  !  ye  brethren,  hear  it  striking ; 

Keep  hearts  and  houses  clean,  to  our  Saviour's  liking. 
X. — Now,  brethren,  hear,  the  clock  is  ten  and  passing ; 
None  rest  but  such  as  wait  for  Christ's  embracing. 


56 

XL— Eleven  is  past !    Still  at  this  hour  eleven 

The  Lord  is  calling  us  from  earth  to  heaven. 
XII. — Ye  brethren,  hear,  the  midnight  clock  is  humming; 

At  midnight  our  great  Bridegroom  will  be  coming. 
I. — p^t  one  o'clock  !    The  day  breaks  out  of  darkness ; 

Great  Morning  Star  appear,  and  break  our  hardness. 
II. — '  Tis  two  !    On  Jesus  wait  this  silent  season, 

Ye  two  so  near  related,  Will  and  Reason. 
III.— The  clock  is  three  !    The  blessed  three  doth  merit 

The  best  of  praise,  from  body,  soul  and  spirit. 
IV. — '  Tis  four  o'clock!    When  three  make  supplication, 

The  Lord  will  be  the  fourth  on  that  occasion. 
V. — Five  is  the  clock  !    Five  virgins  were  discarded, 

While  five  with  wedding  garments  were  rewarded. 
VI. — The  clock  is  six,  and  I  go  off  my  station. 

Now,  brethren,  watch  yourselves  for  your  salvation. 

Household,  Rules  in  the  Sixteenth  Century. 

From  Sir  J.  Harrington's  (the  translator  of  Ariosto)  rules 
for  servants,  we  obtain  a  very  clear  conception  of  the  internal 
government  of  a  country  gentleman's  house  in  1566 — 

A  servant  who  is  absent  from  prayers  to  be  fined. 

For  uttering  an  oath,  \d.\  and  the  same  sum  for  leaving  a 
door  open. 

A  fine  of  id.  from  Michaelmas  to  Lady  Day,  for  all  who 
are  in  bed  after  seven,  or  out  after  nine. 

A  fine  of  \d.  for  any  bed  unmade,  fire  unlit,  or  candle-box 
uncleaned,  after  eight. 

A  fine  of  4</.  for  a  man  detected  teaching  the  children  ob- 
scene words. 

A  fine  of  i  of.  for  any  man  waiting  without  a  trencher,  or 
who  is  absent  at  a  meal. 

For  any  one  breaking  any  of  the  butler's  glass, 


57 

A  fine  of  2d.  for  any  one  who  has  not  laid  the  table  foi 
dinner  by  half-past  ten,  or  the  supper  by  six. 

A  fine  of  4^.  for  any  one  absent  without  leave. 

For  any  man  striking  another,  a  fine  of  \d 

For  any  follower  visiting  the  cook,  id. 

A  fine  of  id.  for  any  man  appearing  in  a  foul  shirt,  untied 
shoes,  or  torn  doublet. 

A  fine  of  id.  for  any  stranger's  room  left  for  four  hours 
after  he  has  dressed. 

A  fine  of  id.  if  the  hall  be  not  cleansed  by  eight  in  winter 
and  seven  in  summer. 

The  porter  to  be  fined  id.  if  the  court-gate  be  not  shut 
during  meals. 

A  fine  of  $d.  if  the  stairs  be  not  cleaned  every  Friday  after 
dinner. 

All  these  fines  were  deducted  by  the  steward  at  the  quarterly 
payment  of  wages. 

Hindoo  Oaths. 

The  Hindoos  regard  the  Ganges  as  a  sacred  river.  It  is  a 
common  practice  in  British  Courts  to  "swear"  Hindoo  wit- 
nesses upon  the  waters  of  the  Ganges,  just  as  Christians  are 
sworn  upon  the  Bible. 

Saturday  a  Fatal  Day  to  the  Royal 
Family  of  England. 

Saturday  has  been  a  fatal  day  to  the  royal  family  of  England 
during  the  last  hundred  and  sixty  years,  as  is  shown  by  the 
following  list  : — 

William  III.  died  Saturday,  March  i8th,  1702. 

Queen  Anne  died  Saturday,  August  ist,  1714. 


58 


George  I.  died  Saturday,  June  loth,  1727. 
George  II.  died  Saturday,  October  251)1,  1760. 
George  III.  died  Saturday,  January  29th,  1820. 
George  IV.  died  Saturday,  June  26th,  1830. 
Duchess  of  Kent  died  Saturday,  March  i6th,  1861. 
Prince  Albert  died  Saturday,  December  i4th,  1861. 
Princess  Alice  died  Saturday,  December  i4th,  1878. 


Edicts  Against  Fiddlers. 

An  idea  may  be  formed  of  the  strictness  with  which  all 
popular  amusements  were  prohibited  when  the  Puritans  had 
the  ascendency,  from  the  fact  that  in  1656-7  Oliver  Cromwell 
prohibited  all  persons  called  fiddlers  or  minstrels  from  playing, 
fiddling  or  making  music  in  any  inn,  ale-house  or  tavern, 
etc.  If  they  proffered  themselves,  or  offered  to  make  music, 
they  were  adjudged  to  be  rogues  and  vagabonds,  and  were  to 
be  proceeded  against  as  such. 


John  0' Gaunt' s  Will. 

Perhaps  the  shortest  deed  of  land  by  a  will  in  the  world 
is  the  following: — 

"  I,  John  of  Gaunt, 
Do  give  and  do  grant 
To  John  of  Burgoyne 
And  the  heirs  of  his  loin, 
Both  Sutton  and  Potton 
Until  the  world's  rotten." 

It  is  by  this  tenure,  it  is  said,  that  the  estates  of  Sutton  and 
Potton,  in  the  county  of  Bedford,  England,  are  now  held  by 
the  house  of  Burgoyne. 


59 

Eccentric  Will. 

Mr.  Tuke,  of  Wath,  near  Rotherham,  England,  who  died 
in  1810,  bequeathed  one  penny  to  every  child  that  attended 
his  funeral  (there  came  from  six  to  seven  hundred) ;  is.  to 
every  poor  woman  in  Wath  ;  los.  6d.  to  the  ringers  to  ring 
one  peal  of  grand  bobs,  which  was  to  strike  off  while  they 
were  putting  him  into  the  grave.  To  his  natural  daughter, 
£4  4s.  per  annum.  To  his  old  and  faithful  servant,  Joseph 
Pitt,  £21  per  annum.  To  an  old  woman  who  had  for  eleven 
years  tucked  him  up  in  bed,  £i  is.  only.  Forty  dozen  penny 
loaves  to  be  thrown  from  the  church  leads  at  twelve  o'clock 
on  Christmas  day  forever.  Two  handsome  brass  chandeliers 
for  the  church,  and  £20  for  a  set  of  new  chimes. 

Curious  Custom  at  Strasbourg. 

At  Strasbourg  they  exhibit  a  large  French  horn,  the  history 
of  which  is  as  follows: — 

About  four  hundred  years  ago  the  Jews  formed  a  conspiracy 
to  betray  the  city,  and  with  this  identical  horn  they  intended 
to  give  the  enemy  notice  when  to  attack.  The  plot,  however, 
was  discovered;  many  of  the  Jews  were  burnt  alive;  the 
rest  were  plundered  of  their  money  and  effects,  and  banished 
the  town.  This  horn  is  sounded  twice  every  night  from  the 
battlements  of  the  steeple  in  gratitude  for  the  deliverance. 
The  Jews  deny  the  facts  of  this  story,  excepting  the  murder- 
ing and  pillaging  of  their  countrymen.  They  say  the  whole 
story  is  fabricated  to  furnish  a  pretext  for  the  robberies  and 
murders,  and  assert  that  the  steeple  of  Strasbourg,  as  has  been 
said  of  the  monument  of  London, 

"Like  a  tall  bully  lifts  the  head  and  lies." 


60 

Tooth-Picks. 

In  the  fourteenth  century  it  was  the  fashion  to  carry  tooth- 
picks of  silver  suspended  round  the  neck  by  a  chain. 

Phantom  Menageries. 

"The  Magick  of  Kirami,  King  of  Persia,  and  of  Har- 
pocration,"  printed  in  the  year  1685,  contains  the  following: — 

*:The  hyena  is  a  four-footed  animal,  savage  and  ambiguous; 
for  this  creature  is  born  female,  and,  after  a  year,  turns  male, 
and  then,  for  the  next  year,  turns  female  again,  and  brings 
forth  and  gives  suck;  and  the  gall  of  this  animal,  being  sweet, 
has  efficacy  for  a  miracle;  and  a  great  miracle  is  made  of  it; 
and  this  is  the  composition:  Take  the  eyes  of  the  fish  glaucus, 
and  the  right  eye  of  the  said  hyena,  and  all  that  is  liquid  of 
the  said  hyena;  dissolve  all  together,  and  pot  it  up  in  a  glass 
vessel,  covering  it  well.  If,  therefore,  you  will  show  a  great 
miracle,  when  you  have  set  a  light,  mix  the  fat  of  any  creep- 
ing thing,  or  four-footed  beast  you  please,  with  a  little  of  the 
foresaid  composition ;  if  you  anoint  the  wick  of  the  lamp  or 
candle,  they  will  think  it  is  the  beast  of  which  it  is  the  fat, 
whether  of  a  lion,  bull,  serpent,  or  any  other  creature.  If 
you  put  a  little  of  the  confection  upon  burning  coals,  in  the 
middle  of  the  house,  the  beast  will  appear  whose  fat  you  mixed 
with  it.  And  you  may  do  the  same  with  birds.  And  if  you 
mix  a  little  sea-water  with  the  composition,  and  sprinkle 
among  the  guests,  they  will  all  fly,  thinking  that  the  sea  is  in 
the  midst  of  them." 

Curious  Law. 

The  following  curious  law  was  enacted  during  the  reign  of 
Richard  I.,  for  the  government  of  those  going  by  sea  to  the 
Holy  Land:  "He  who  kills  a  man  on  shipboard,  shall  be 


bi 

bound  to  the  dead  body  and  thrown  into  the  sea;  if  the  man 
is  killed  on  shore,  the  slayer  shall  be  bound  to  the  dead  body 
and  buried  with  it.  He  who  shall  draw  his  knife  to  strike 
another,  or  who  shall  have  drawn  blood  from  him,  to  lose  his 
hand ;  if  he  shall  have  only  struck  with  the  palm  of  the  hand, 
without  drawing  blood,  he  shall  be  thrice  ducked  in  the  sea/' 

Curious  Historical  Coincidence. 

The  following  curious  historical  coincidence  has  been 
remarked  in  the  life  of  Thomas  a-Becket,  who  was  appointed 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  by  Henry  II:  — 

The  dignity  was  conferred  upon  him  on  a  Tuesday;  Tues- 
day brought  him  face  to  face  with  the  peers  of  Northampton; 
he  was  banished  from  England  on  a  Tuesday ;  he  had  a  celes- 
tial visit  on  a  Tuesday,  foretelling  his  "martyrdom;"  he  came 
home  from  exile  on  a  Tuesday;  he  was  slain  at  the  altar  on  a 
Tuesday,  and  was  canonized  as  a  saint  on  a  Tuesday. 

Born  within  the  Sound  of  Bow  Bells. 

One  of  the  most  celebrated  peals  of  bells  in  London  is  that 
of  St.  Mary-le-bow,  Cheapside,  which  forms  the  basis  of  a 
proverbial  expression  meant  to  mark  emphatically  a  London 
nativity.  Brand  speaks  of  a  substantial  endowment  by  a  citi- 
zen for  the  ringing  of  Bow-bells  every  morning  to  wake  up  the 
London  apprentices. 

Refreshments  for  the  Pulpit. 

In  the  books  of  Darlington  parish  church,  the  following 
items  appear,  which  show  that,  in  the  olden  time,  provision 
was  made  for  comforting  the  inner  man: — 


62 

"Six  quarts  of  sack  to  the  minister  who  preached  when  he 
had  no  minister  to  assist,  gs.',  for  a  quart  of  sack  bestowed 
on  Jillett,  when  he  preached,  2s.  6tL;  for  pint  of  brandy 
when  George  Bell  preached  here,  is.  ^d.\  for  a  stranger  who 
preached,  a  dozen  of  ale.  When  the  Dean  of  Durham 
preached  here,  spent  in  a  treat  in  the  house,  y.  6d. ' ' 

Birthdays. 

It  is  not  generally  known  that  the  custom  of  keeping  birth- 
days is  many  thousand  years  old.  It  is  recorded  in  the 
fortieth  chapter  of  Genesis,  twentieth  verse :  "And  it  came  to 
pass  the  third  day,  which  was  Pharaoh's  birthday,  that  he 
made  a  feast  unto  all  his  servants." 


Toppling  Flower  Pots. 

An  Act  of  Parliament  was  passed  to  "put  down*'  the 
flower  pots,  "which  were  accustomed  to  topple  on  the 
walkers'  heads,  from  the  windows  of  houses  wherein  flower- 
fanciers  dwelt." 

Electioneering  in  1640. 

In  Sir  Henry  Slingsby's  diary  is  the  following  entry  respect- 
ing the  election  at  Knaresborough,  in  1640:  "There  is  an 
evil  custom  at  such  elections,  to  bestow  wine  on  all  the  town, 
which  cost  me  sixteen  pounds  at  least." 

Monks  Ordered  to  Shave. 

In  the  year  1200  the  Council  of  Lateran  ordered  the  monks 
to  shave  off  their  beards,  "lest  in  the  ceremony  of  receiving 


63 

the  sacrament,  the  beard  might  touch  the  bread  and  wine,  01 
crumbs  and  drops  fall  and  stick  upon  it." 

Odd  Bill  for  Repairs. 

One  meets  with  curious  things  in  the  old  church  registers 
of  England.  The  subjoined,  in  the  Record  Office  of  Win- 
chester Cathedral,  dated  1182,  is  certainly  unique.  It  is  a 

bill  for  work  done: —  > 

s.  a. 

To  soldering  and  repairing  St.  Joseph,  .  .08 

To  cleaning  and  ornamenting  the  Holy  Ghost,  .        o  6 

To  repairing  the  Virgin  Mary  and  cleaning  the  child,         4  8 
To  screwing  a  nose  on  the  Devil,  and  putting  in  the  hair 

on  his  head,  and  placing  a  new  joint  in  his  tail,          5  6 

Antiquity  of  Riddles. 

Riddles  are  of  the  highest  antiquity.  The  oldest  one  on 
record  is  in  the  book  of  Judges,  xiv.  14-18.  We  are  told  by 
Plutarch  that  the  girls  of  his  time  worked  at  netting  or  sew- 
ing, and  the  most  ingenius  made  riddles.  The  following 
riddle  is  attributed  to  Cleobolus,  one  of  the  seven  wise  men 
of  Greece,  who  lived  about  570  years  before  the  birth  of 
Christ: — 

"There  is  a  father  with  twice  six  sons;  these  sons  have 
thirty  daughters  apiece,  parti-colored,  having  one  cheek  white 
and  the  other  black,  who  never  see  each  other's  faces,  nor 
live  more  than  twenty-four  hours." 

Cashing  Lottery  Prizes. 

In  the  State  Lottery  of  1739,  tickets,  chances  and  shares 
were  "bought  and  sold  by  Richard  Shergold,  printer,  at  his 


64 

office  at  the  Union  Coffee-house  over  and  against  the  Royal 
Exchange,  Cornhill."  He  advertised  that  he  kept  numerical 
books  during  the  drawing,  and  a  book  wherein  buyers  might 
register  their  numbers  at  sixpence  each;  \ha.i  fifteen  per  cent, 
was  to  be  deducted  out  of  the  prizes,  which  were  to  be  paid  at 
the  bank  in  fifty  days  after  the  drawing.  The  heavy  percent- 
age demanded  occasioned  the  following  epigram : — 

"This  lottery  can  never  thrive," 

Was  broker  heard  to  say, 
"  For  who  but  fools  will  ever  give 

Fifteen  per  cent,  to  play?" 

A  sage,  with  his  accustomed  grin, 

Replied,  "I'll  stake  my  doom, 
That  if  but  half  the  fools  come  in 

The  wise  will  find  no  room  I" 


Lottery  for  Women  in  India. 

Advertisement.— BE  IT  KNOWN,  that  Six  FAIR  PRETTY 
YOUNG  LADIES,  with  two  sweet  and  engaging  young  children, 
lately  imported  from  Europe,  having  roses  of  health  blooming 
on  their  cheeks  and  joy  sparkling  in  their  eyes,  possessing 
amiable  manners  and  highly  accomplished,  whom  the  most 
indifferent  cannot  behold  without  expressions  of  rapture,  are 
to  be  RAFFLED  FOR  next  door  to  the  British  gallery. 
SCHEME:  Twelve  tickets  at  twelve  rupees  each;  the  highest  of 
the  three  throws  takes  the  most  fascinating,  &cv  &c. — Cat- , 
cutta  Newspaper  of  September  yd,  1818. 

Ancient  Lottery. 

In  1612,  King  James  I  ,  "in  special  favour  for  the  planta- 
tion of  English  colonies  in  Virginia,  granted  a  Lottery  to  be 
held  at  the  west  end  of  St.  Paul's;  whereof  one  Thomas 


65 

Sharplys,  a  taylor  of  London,  had  the  chief  prize,  which  was 
four  thousand  crowns  in  fair  plate."  —  Baker  's  Chronicles. 


Child  Played  For. 


In  October,  1735,  a  child  of  James  and  Elizabeth  Leesh,  of 
Chester-le-street,  in  the  county  of  Durham,  was  played  for  at 
cards,  at  the  sign  of  the  Salmon,  one  game,  four  shillings 
against  the  child,  by  Henry  and  John  Trotter,  Robert  Thom- 
son and  Thomas  Ellison,  which  was  won  by  the  latter  two 
and  delivered  to  them  accordingly.  —  Syke*  s  Local  Records, 
page  79. 

Lotteries. 

The  change  in  public  opinion  respecting  lotteries  is  strik- 
ingly illustrated  by  the  following  entry  in  the  day-book  kept 
by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Seabury,  father  of  the  first  Protestant 
Episcopal  Bishop  in  the  United  States:  "June,  1768.  The 
ticket  number  5866,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  in  the  Lighthouse 
and  Public  Lottery  of  New  York,  appointed  by  law,  Anno 
Domini,  1763,  drew  in  my  favor  £500  os.  od.,  of  which  I 
received  £425,  os.  od.,  which,  with  the  deduction  of  fifteen 
per  cent.,  makes  £500,  for  which  I  now  record  to  my  Posterity 
my  thanks  and  praise  to  Almighty  God  the  giver  of  all  good 
gifts.  Amen!" 

Babes  in  the  Wood. 

This  popular  legend  was  a  disguised  recital  of  the  reported 
murder  of  his  young  nephews  by  Richard  III.  Throughout 
the  tale  there  is  a  marked  resemblance  to  several  leading  facts 
connected  with  the  king  and  his  brother's  children,  as  well  as 
a  correspondence  with  historical  details.  In  an  old  black- 


letter  copy  of  the  ballad  there  is  a  rude  representation  of  a 
stag,  which  is  significant,  because  a  stag  was  the  badge  of  the 
unfortunate  Edward  V. 


A  Little  Bird  Told  Me. 

This  expression  comes  from  Ecclesiastes  x.  20:  "For  a 
bird  of  the  air  shall  carry  the  voice,  and  that  which  hath 
wings  shall  tell  the  matter." 


Dead  Drunlc  for  Twopence. 

From  the  "Gentleman's  Magazine"  (1736),  we  learn  that 
at  some  of  the  taverns  where  the  poorer  classes  drank  to 
excess,  the  signs  bore  the  following  inscription:  "  Drunk  for 
a  penny,  dead  drunk  for  twopence,  clean  straw  for  nothing. ' ' 
This  record  gives  reality  to  the  inscription  in  Hogarth's  print 
of  "Gin-lane." 


How  the  Prophecy  of  the  Destruction  of 
Bath  came  About. 

On  the  3oth  of  March,  1809,  the  destruction  of  the  city  oi 
Bath  was  to  have  been  effected  by  a  convulsion  of  the  earth, 
which  should  cause  "Beaconhill  to  meet  Beechen  Cliff." 
This  inauspicious  juncture  was  said  to  have  been  foretold  by 
an  old  woman  who  had  derived  her  information  from  an 
angel.  This  reported  prophecy  rendered  many  of  the  inhabit- 
ants uneasy,  and  instigated  crowds  of  visitors  to  quit  the 
city.  The  portentous  hour — twelve  o'clock — passed,  and  the 
believers  were  ashamed  of  their  credulity.  The  alarm  is  said 
to  have  originated  with  two  noted  cock-feeders,  who  lived 
near  the  before-mentioned  hills;  they  had  been  at  a  public 


67 

house,  and,  after  much  boasting  on  both  sides,  made  a  match 
to  fight  their  favorite  cocks  on  Good  Friday;  but  fearing  the 
magistrates  might  interfere,  if  it  became  public,  they  named 
the  cocks  after  their  respective  walks,  and  in  the  agreement 
it  was  specified  that  "Mount  Beacon  would  meet  Beechen 
Cliff,  precisely  at  12  o'clock  on  Good  Friday."  The  match 
was  mentioned  with  cautions  of  secresy  to  their  sporting 
friends,  who  repeated  it  in  the  same  terms,  and  with  the  same 
caution,  until  it  came  to  the  ears  of  some  credulous  beings, 
who  took  the  words  in  their  plain  sense;  and,  as  stories  seldom 
lose  by  being  repeated,  each  added  what  fear  or  fancy  framed, 
until  the  report  became  a  marvellous  prophecy,  which  in  its 
intended  sense  was  fulfilled;  for  the  cocks  of  Mount  Beacon 
irul  Beechen  Cliff  met  and  fought,  and  left  their  hills  behind 
'"lem  on  their  ancient  sites,  to  the  comfort  and  joy  of  multi- 
tudes who  had  been  disturbed  by  the  epidemical  prediction. 
— Hone. 

Drop-Letter  Retort. 

An  old  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Page,  having  found  a 
young  lady's  glove  at  a  watering  place,  presented  it  to  her 
with  the  following  couplet : — 

"  If  you  from  your  glove  take  the  letter  G, 

Your  glove  leaves  love,  which  I  devote  to  thee." 

To  which  the  lady  returned  the  following  answer: — 

"  If  from  your  page  you  take  the  letter  P, 

Your  page  is  age,  and  that  won't  do  for  me." 


Dean  Swift's  Marriage  Ceremony. 

Dean  Swift  was  applied  to,  at  a  late  hour  on  a  stormy  night, 
after  he  had  gone  to  bed,  by  a  run-away  couple,  to  be  married. 


68 

He  answered  the  call  from  his  upper  chamber  window.  He 
told  them  that  as  he  was  undressed,  the  weather  very  threaten- 
ing, and  they,  he  presumed,  in  a  hurry,  he  would  marry  them 
as  they  stood.  After  asking  the  necessary  questions,  he  said — 

"  Under  this  window,  in  stormy  weather, 
I  marry  this  man  and  woman  together ; 
Let  none  but  Him  who  rules  the  thunder 
Put  this  man  and  woman  asunder." 


Pious  Guide-Posts. 

In  olden  times  the  guide-posts  not  only  pointed  out  the 
road,  but  furnished  texts  and  maxims  upon  which  to  meditate. 
The  following  inscriptions  were  upon  guide-posts  in  Devon- 
shire, England: — 

V&"  To  Woodbury,  Topsham,  Exeter. — Her  ways  are  wa; » 
of  pleasantness,  and  all  her  paths  are  peace. 

t&~To  Brixton,  Ottery,  Honiton. — O  hold  up  our  goings 
in  thy  paths,  that  our  footsteps  slip  not. 

t&~To  Otter  ton,  Sidmouth,  A.  D.  1743. — O  that  our  ways 
were  made  to  direct,  that  we  might  keep  thy  statutes. 

S&T  To  Budleigh. — Make  us  to  go  in  the  paths  of  thy  com- 
mandments, for  therein  is  our  desire. 

A  Bogus  Dragon. 

A  curious  anecdote  of  Jacob  Bobart,  keeper  of  the  physic 
garden  of  Oxford,  England,  occurs  in  one  of  Grey's  notes  tc 
Hudibras:  "He  made  a  dead  rat  resemble  the  common 
picture  of  a  dragon,  by  altering  its  head  and  tail,  and  thrust- 
ing in  taper  sharp  sticks,  which  distended  the  skin  on  each 
side  till  it  resembled  wings.  He  let  it  dry  as  hard  as  pos- 
sible. The  learned  immediately  pronounced  it  a  dragon, 
and  one  of  them  sent  an  accurate  description  of  it  to  Dr. 


69 

Magliabecchi,  librarian  to  the  Grand  Duke  of  Tuscany; 
several  fine  copies  of  verses  were  written  on  so  rare  a  subject. 
At  last  Mr.  Bobart  owned  the  cheat ;  however,  it  was  looked 
upon  as  a  master-piece  of  art,  and,  as  such,  was  deposited  in 
the  museum." 

Donation  to  a  Fair. 

On  one  occasion  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes  sent  a  letter  to 
the  post-office  of  a  ladies'  fair  at  Pittsfield.  On  the  first  page 
he  wrote — 

"  Fair  lady,  whoso' er  thou  art, 

Turn  this  poor  leaf  with  tenderest  care, 
And  hush,  Oh  hush,  thy  breathing  heart — 
The  one  thou  lovest  will  be  there." 

On  turning  the  "poor  leaf"  there  was  found  a  one  dollar 
bill  with  the  subjoined  verse — 

"  Fair  lady,  lift  thine  eyes  and  tell 
If  this  is  not  a  truthful  letter  ? 
This  is  the  one  (i)  thou  lovest  well, 

And  nought  (o)  can  make  thee  love  it  better." 


Confectionery  Decorations. 

Probably  the  ancients  exceeded  us  in  the  art  of  decorating 
confectionery.  After  each  course  in  solemn  feasts  there  was 
a  "subtilty."  Subtilties  were  representations  of  castles, 
giants,  saints,  knights,  ladies  and  beasts,  all  raised  in  pastry, 
upon  which  legends  and  coat-armor  were  painted  in  their 
proper  colors.  At  the  festival,  on  the  coronation  of  Henry 
VI.,  in  1429,  there  was  a  "subtilty"  of  St.  Edward  and  St. 
Louis,  "armed,  and  upon  either  his  coat-armor,  holding 
between  them  a  figure  of  King  Henry,  standing  also  in  his 
coat-armor,  and  an  inscription  passing  from  both,  saying, 


70 

'Beholde  twoe  perfecte  kynges  vnder  one  coate-armoure. ' " — 
Fabyan-Dallaway*  s  Heraldic  Inq. 

Superscription  to  a  Letter. 

A  letter  upon  which  the  following  was  written,  passed 
through  the  Atlanta  (Ga.)  post-office: — 

"  Steal  not  this  for  fear  of  shame — 
There  is  no  money  in  the  same; 
True,  it  does  a  check  contain, 
But  'tis  for  baggage  on  a  tram." 

In  Search  of  a  Looking- Glass. 

"When  I  was  last  in  Lisbon,  a  nun  made  her  escape  from 
the  nunnery.  The  first  thing  for  which  she  inquired,  when 
she  reached  the  house  in  which  she  was  to  be  secreted,  was  a 
looking-glass.  She  had  entered  the  convent  when  only  five 
years  old,  and  from  that  time  had  never  seen  her  own  face." 
— Southey, 

Bleeding  for  Nothing. 

"Whereas,  the  majority  of  Apothecaries  in  Boston  have 
agreed  to  pull  down  the  price  of  Bleeding  to  sixpence,  let 
these  certifie  that  Mr.  Richard  Clarke,  Apothecary,  will  bleed 
anybody  at  his  shop,  gratis." — Stamford  Mercury,  March 
28th,  1716. 

An  Astonished  Lawyer. 

A  curious  instance  occurred  of  a  witness  confounding  a 
counsel,  at  Gloucester,  England,  some  years  ago.  The  wit- 
ness, on  being  asked  his  name,  gave  it  as  Ottiwell  Woodd. 


u 

The  learned  counsel  did  not  seem  to  catch  it,  though  it  was 
several  times  pronounced.  "Spell  it,  sir,  if  you  please,"  he 
said,  somewhat  angrily.  The  witness  complied  as  follows: 
"O-double  t-i-double  you-e-double  1-double  you-double  o- 
doubled."  The  spelling  confounded  the  lawyer  more  than 
ever,  and  in  his  confusion,  amid  the  laughter  of  the  court,  he 
took  the  witness  aside  to  help  him  to  spell  it  after  him. 

Duels  Fought  by  Clergymen. 

In  England,  in  1764,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Hill  was  killed  in  a 
duel  by  Cornet  Gardener,  of  the  carbineers.  The  Rev.  Mr. 
Bates  fought  two  duels,  and  was  subsequently  created  a 
baronet,  and  preferred  to  a  deanery  after  he  had  fought 
another  duel.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Allen  killed  a  Mr.  Delany  in  a 
duel  in  Hyde  Park,  without  incurring  ecclesiastical  censure, 
though  the  judge,  on  account  of  his  extremely  bad  conduct, 
strongly  charged  his  guilt  upon  the  jury. 

A  Singular  Coincidence. 

On  the  1 3th  of  February,  1746,  as  the  records  of  the  French 
criminal  jurisprudence  inform  us,  one  Jean  Marie  Dunbarry 
was  brought  to  the  scaffold  for  murdering  his  father;  and, 
strangely  enough,  on  the  I3th  of  February,  1846,  precisely 
one  hundred  years  later,  another  Jean  Marie  Dunbarry,  a 
great-grandson  of  the  first-mentioned  criminal,  paid  the  same 
penalty  for  the  same  crime. 

Tavern  Screens. 

Centuries  ago,  the  doors  of  taverns  had  an  interior  screen, 
similar  to  those  in  use  at  the  present  day.  Lounging  was  just 


72 

as  much  in  vogue.     In  Clare's  "Shepherd's  Calender,"  we 
read — 

"  Now,  musing  o'er  the  changing  scene, 

Farmers  behind  the  tavern  screen 

Collect;  with  elbow  idly  press'd 

On  hob,  reclines  the  corner's  guest, 

Reading  the  news,  to  mark  again 

The  bankrupt  Hits,  or  price  of  grain, 

Puffing  the  while  his  red-tipt  pipe, 

He  dreams  o'er  troubles  nearly  ripe; 

Yet,  winter's  leisure  to  regale, 

Hopes  better  times,  and  sips  his  ale." 


Ancient  Antipathy  to  lied  Hair. 

Ages  before  the  time  of  Judas,  red  hair  was  thought  a  mark 
of  reprobation,  both  in  the  case  of  Typhon,  who  deprived  his 
brother  of  the  sceptre  in  Egypt,  and  Nebuchadnezzar,  who 
acquired  it  in  expiation  of  his  atrocities.  Even  the  donkey 
tribe  suffered  from  this  ill-omened  visitation,  according  to  the 
proverb  of  "wicked  as  a  red  ass."  Asses  of  that  color  were 
held  in  such  detestation  r  mong  the  Copths,  that  every  year 
they  sacrificed  one  by  hurling  it  from  a  high  wall. 


Lightning- Prints. 

Lightning-prints  are  appearances  sometimes  found  on  the 
skin  of  men  or  animals  that  are  struck  by  lightning,  and  are 
currently  believed  to  be  photographic  representations  of  sur- 
rounding objects  or  scenery. 

At  Candclaria,  in  Cuba,  in  1828,  a  young  man  was  struck 
dead  by  lightning  near  a  house,  on  one  of  the  windows  of 
which  was  nailed  a  horse-shoe;  and  the  image  of  the  horse- 
shoe was  said  to  be  distinctly  printed  upon  the  neck  of  the 
young  man.  On  the  i4th  of  November,  1830,  lightning 


73 

struck  the  Chateau  Benatcniere,  in  Lavendee.  At  the  time  a 
lady  happened  to  be  seated  on  a  chair  in  the  salon,  and  on 
the  back  of  her  dress  were  printed  minutely  the  ornaments  on 
the  back  of  the  chair.  In  September,  1857,  a  peasant-girl, 
while  herring  a  cow  in  the  department  of  Seine-et-Marne, 
was  overtaken  by  a  thunder-storm.  She  took  refuge  under  a 
tree,  and  the  tree,  the  cow  and  herself  were  struck  with  light- 
ning. The  cow  was  killed,  but  she  recovered,  and  on  loosen- 
ing her  dress  for  the  sake  of  respiring  freely,  she  saw  a  picture 
of  the  cow  upon  her  breast. 

JVo  Buttons  but  Brass  Buttons. 

There  is  a  curious  law  extant  in  England  in  regard  to  brass 
buttons.  It  is,  by  Acts  of  Parliament  passed  in  three  reigns, 
(William  III.,  Anne  and  George  I.),  illegal  for  a  tailor  to 
make,  or  mortal  to  wear,  clothes  with  any  other  buttons 
appended  thereto  but  buttons  of  brass.  The  law  was  put  in 
force  for  the  benefit  of  the  button-makers  of  Birmingham;  and 
it  further  enacts,  not  only  that  he  who  makes  or  sells  gar- 
ments with  any  but  brass  buttons  thereto  affixed,  shall  pay  a 
penalty  of  forty  shillings  for  every  dozen,  but  that  he  shall 
not  be  able  to  recover  the  price  he  claims,  if  the  wearer  thinks 
proper  to  resist  payment.  The  Act  is  not  a  dead  letter. 
Not  more  than  thirty  years  ago  a  Mr.  Shirley  sued  a  Mr. 
King  for  nine  pounds  sterling  due  for  a  suit  of  clothes.  King 
pleaded  non-liability  on  the  ground  of  an  illegal  transaction, 
the  buttons  on  the  garments  supplied  being  made  of  cloth,  or 
bone  covered  with  cloth,  instead  of  glittering  brass, -as  -the 
law  directs.  The  judge  allowed  the  plea;  and  the  defendant 
having  thus  gained  a  double  suit  without  cost,  immediately 
proceeded  against  the  plaintiff  to  recover  his  share  of  the 
forty  shillings  for  every  dozen  buttons  which  the  poor  tailor 
had  unwittingly  supplied.  A  remarkable  feature  in  the  case 


was,  that  the  judge  who  admitted  the  plea,  the  barrister  who 
set  it  up,  and  the  client  who  profited  by  it,  were  themselves 
all  buttoned  contrary  to  law ! 

Curious  Signs  in  New  York. 

One  may  see  in  the  shop-windows  of  a  Fourth  avenue  con- 
fectioner, "Pies  Open  All  Night."  An  undertaker  in  the 
same  thoroughfare  advertises,  ''Everything  Requisite  for  a 
First-class  Funeral."  A  Bowery  placard  reads,  "Home- 
made Dining  Rooms,  Family  Oysters."  A  West  Broadway 
restaurateur  sells  "Home-made  Pies,  Pastry  and  Oysters." 
A  Third  avenue  "dive"  offers  for  sale  "Coffee  and  Cakes 
off  the  Griddle,"  and  an  East  Broadway  caterer  retails 
"Fresh  Salt  Oysters"  and  "Larger  Beer."  A  Fulton  street 
tobacconist  calls  himself  a  "Speculator  in  Smoke,"  and  a 
purveyor  of  summer  drinks  has  invented  a  new  draught,  which 
he  calls  by  the  colicky  name  of  "^Eolian  Spray."  A  Sixth 
avenue  barber  hangs  out  a  sign  reading  "Boots  Polished 
Inside,"  and  on  Varick  street,  near  Carmine,  there  are  "Les- 
sons Given  on  the  Piano,  with  use  for  Practice  "  "Cloth 
Cutt  and  Bastd"  is  the  cabalistic  legend  on  the  front  of  a 
millinery  shop  on  Spring  street;  on  another  street  the  follow- 
ing catches  the  eye :  "Washin  Ironin  and  Goin  Out  by  the 
Day  Done  Here." 

Recipes  from  Mbertus  Magnus. 

"If  thou  wylt  see  that  other  men  cannot  see:  Take  the  gall 
of  a  male  cat,  and  the  fat  of  a  hen  all  whyte,  and  mixe  them 
together,  and  anoint  thy  eyes,  and  thou  shall  see  it  that  others 
cannot  see. 

"If  the  hart,  eye  or  brayne  of  a  lapwyng  or  blacke  plover 
be  hanged  upon  a  man's  neck,  it  is  profitable  agaynste  forget- 


75 

fulnesse,  and  sharpeth  man's  understanding." — Black  letter 
copy — very  old, 

Infamous  Nankeen. 

The  wearing  of  nankeen  at  one  time  was  so  popular  among 
gentlemen  in  England,  that  it  also  became  the  fashion  in 
France.  English  nankeen  threatened  to  drive  all  French 
manufactured  articles  of  summer  wear  out  of  the  market. 
Louis  XVI.,  however,  was  equal  to  the  emergency.  He 
ordered  all  the  executioners  and  their  assistants  to  perform 
their  terrible  office  in  no  other  dress  but  one  made  out  of 
nankeen,  which  rendered  the  material  so  "infamous"  that 
its  use  was  discarded. 

The  Military  Salute. 

The  military  salute,  which  consists  of  the  hand  being  brought 
to  a  horizontal  position  over  the  eyebrows,  has  a  very  old 
origin,  dating,  in  fact,  from  the  very  commencement  of  the 
history  of  the  English  army.  Its  origin  is  founded  on  the 
tournaments  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  was  as  follows :  After 
the  queen  of  beauty  was  enthroned,  the  knights  who  were  to 
take  part  in  the  sports  of  the  day,  marched  past  the  dais  on 
which  she  sat,  and  as  they  passed  they  shielded  their  eyes 
from  the  rays  of  her  beauty. 

Book-keeping  in  Norway. 

The  process  of  keeping  accounts  among  the  Norway  lumber- 
men is  unique  in  style.  The  time-keeper,  after  comparing 
accounts  with  the  workman,  sends  him  to  the  cashier  for  his 
wages,  with  the  amount  due  to  him  chalked  on  his  back;  and 
when  the  cashier  has  paid  it,  he  takes  his  receipt  by  brushing 
off  the  chalk-marks. 


76 
Carious  Post- Office. 

The  smallest  post-office  in  the  world  is  kept  in  a  barrel, 
which  swings  from  the  outermost  rock  of  the  mountains  over- 
hanging the  Straits  of  Magellan,  opposite  Terra  del  Fuego. 
Every  passing  ship  opens  it  to  place  letters  in  or  take  them 
out.  Every  ship  undertakes  to  forward  all  letters  in  it  that  it 
is  possible  for  them  to  transmit.  The  barrel  hangs  by  its  iron 
chain,  beaten  and  battered  by  the  winds  and  storms,  but  no 
locked  and  barred  office  on  land  is  more  secure. 


Inordinate  Self-Esteem. 

Some  Frenchmen  who  landed  on  the  coast  of  Guinea,  found 
a  negro  prince  seated  under  a  tree  on  a  block  of  wood  for  his 
throne,  and  three  or  four  negroes,  armed  with  wooden  spears, 
for  his  guards.  His  sable  majesty  anxiously  inquired :  "Do 
they  talk  much  of  me  in  France?" 


He's  a  Brick. 

If  this  is  slang,  it  is  classical  slang.  Of  the  thousands 
who  use  the  expression,  very  few  know  its  origin  or  its  primi- 
tive significance.  Truly,  it  is  a  heroic  thing  to  say  of  a  man 
to  call  him  a  brick.  The  word  so  used,  if  not  twisted  from 
its  original  intent,  implies  all  that  is  brave,  patriotic  and 
loyal.  Plutarch,  in  his  life  of  Agesilaus,  King  of  Sparta, 
gives  us  the  original  of  the  quaint  and  familiar  expression. 

On  a  certain  occasion  an  ambassador  from  Espirus,  on  a 
diplomatic  mission,  was  shown  by  the  king  over  his  capital. 
The  ambassador  knew  of  the  monarch's  fame — knew  that 
though  only  nominally  king  of  Sparta,  he  was  ruler  of  Greece 
— and  he  had  looked  to  see  massive  walls  rearing  aloft  their 
embattled  towtrs  for  the  defence  of  tVe  town;  but  he  found 


77 

nothing  of  the  kind.  He  marvelled  much  at  this,  and  spoke 
of  it  to  the  king. 

"Sire,"  he  said,  "I  have  visited  most  of  the  principal 
towns,  and  I  find  no  walls  reared  for  defence.  Why  is  this?" 

" Indeed,  Sir  Ambassador,"  replied  Agesilaus;  "thou  canst 
not  have  looked  carefully.  Come  with  me  to-morrow  morn- 
ing, and  I  will  show  you  the  walls  of  Sparta." 

Accordingly,  on  the  following  morning,  the  king  led  his 
guest  out  upon  the  plain  where  his  army  was  drawn  up  in  full 
array,  and  pointing  proudly  to  the  serried  hosts,  he  said — 

"There  thou  beholdest  the  walls  of  Sparta — ten  thousand 
men,  and  EVERY  MAN  A  BRICK!" 

Punch  and  Judy  in  1669. 

Although  Punch  was  not  originally  French,  he  has  always 
been  greatly  esteemed  in  France.  The  following  entries  are 
found  in  the  registers  of  the  royal  treasury: — 

"Paid  to  Brioche,  the  puppet-player,  for  sojourning  at  St. 
Germain-en-Laye,  during  September,  October  and  November. 
1669,  to  divert  the  royal  children,  1365  livres." 

"Paid  to  Francois  Daitelin,  puppet-player,  for  the  fifty-six 
days  he  remained  at  St.  Germain,  to  amuse  Monseigneur  le 
Dauphin  (July  and  August,  1669),  820  livres." 

Five  successive  months  must  almost  have  been  enough  of 
such  amusement  for  the  royal  children  of  France. 

Offending  Barbers. 

On  the  2oth  of  November,  1746,  fifty-one  barbers  were 
convicted  before  the  commissioners  of  excise,  and  fined  twenty 
pounds  each,  for  having  in  their  custody  hair-powder  not  made 
of  starch,  contrary  to  Act  of  Parliament. 


18 

Primitive  Tavern  Signs, 

In  Ireland,  in  the  taverns  by  the  road-side,  in  which  illicit 
whiskey  can  be  obtained,  the  traveler  i-s  informed  of  the  fact 
by  a  piece  of  turf  unobtrusively  placed  in  the  window.  In 
the  Middle  Ages,  road-side  ale  houses  in  England  were  indi- 
cated by  a  stake  projecting  from  the  front  of  the  house,  from 
which  some  object  was  suspended.  Sometimes  a  garland  was 
hung  upon  the  stake,  to  which  occasional  reference  is  made  in 
Chaucer's  poems.  The  bush,  however,  was  more  common 
than  the  stake,  and  was  often  composed  of  ivy.  The  saying 
"Good  wine  needs  no  bush,"  no  doubt  originated  from  this 
custom. 

Watch-Papers. 

Years  ago  it  was  the  custom  for  watch-makers  to  put  their 
business  cards  inside  of  the  case.  These  cards  were  sometimes 
enlivened  with  a  couplet  or  a  verse,  of  each  of  which  we  subjoin 
a  sample — 

He  that  wears  a  watch,  two  things  must  do ; 

Pocket  his  watch  and  watch  his  pocket  too. 

I  labor  here  with  all  my  might, 
To  tell  the  hours  of  day  and  night ; 
Therefore,  example  take  by  me, 
And  serve  the  Lord  as  I  serve  thee. 


Echo  Verse. 

It  was  a  sharp  bit  of  echo  verse  that  the  Sunday  Times  of 
London  threw  off  in  1831,  when  tickets  to  hear  the  great 
violinist  were  very  high — 

What  are  they  who  pay  three  guineas 
To  hear  a  tune  of  Paganini's  ? 
Echo — Pack  o'  ninnies. 


79 

Signature  of  the  Cross. 

The  mark  which  persons  who  are  unable  to  write  are 
required  to  make  instead  of  their  signatures,  is  in  the  form  of 
a  cross ;  and  this  practice  having  formerly  been  followed  by 
kings  and  nobles,  is  constantly  referred  to  as  an  instance  of 
the  deplorable  ignorance  of  ancient  times.  This  signature  is 
not,  however,  ir  variably  a  proof  of  ignorance.  Anciently, 
the  use  of  the  mark  was  not  confined  to  illiterate  persons;  for 
among  the  Saxons  the  mark  of  the  cross,  as  an  attestation  of 
the  good  faith  of  the  persons  signing,  was  required  to  be 
attached  to  the  signature  of  those  who  could  write,  as  well  as 
to  stand  in  the  place  of  the  signature  of  those  who  could  not 
write. 

Simply  on  Account  of  her  Name. 

Herrera,  the  Spanish  historian,  records  an  anecdote  in 
which  the  choice  of  a  queen  entirely  arose  from  her  name. 
When  two  French  ambassadors  negotiated  a  marriage  between 
one  of  the  Spanish  princesses  and  Louis  VIII.,  the  names  of 
the  royal  females  were  Urraca  and  Blanche.  The  former  was 
the  elder  and  the  more  beautiful,  and  intended  by  the  Spanish 
court  for  the  French  monarch ;  but  they  resolutely  preferred 
Blanche,  observing  that  the  name  of  Urraca  would  never  do! 
And  for  the  sake  of  a  more  mellifluous  sound,  they  carried  off 
the  happier-named  but  less  beautiful  princess. 

Richelieu's  Boast. 

Richelieu  one  day  boasted  among  his  courtiers  that  out  of 
any  four  indifferent  words  he  could  extract  matter  to  send  any 
one  to  a  dungeon.  One  of  his  attendants  immediately  wrote 
upon  a  card:  "One  and  two  make  three"  "Three  make 


80 

only  One!"  exclaimed  the  cardinal.     "To  the  Bastile  with 
him.     It  is  a  blasphemy  against  our  Holy  Trinity." 

Curious  Parallel. 

The  story  of  Alnaschar,  which  is  in  the  "Arabian  Nights," 
tells  how  one  Alnaschar  had  invested  all  his  money  in  a 
basket  of  glassware,  which  he  calculated  to  sell  at  a  profit, 
and  got  into  a  day-dream  of  a  splendid  future. 

Out  of  the  profits  of  his  glass  he  was  to  rise  into  the  position 
of  a  merchant-prince,  with  the  Grand  Vizier's  daughter  for 
his  wife.  Offended,  in  this  day-dream,  with  the  lady,  he 
fancied  that  he  would  spurn  her  before  forgiving  her,  and 
kicked  out  his  foot,  which  broke  all  his  glass  and  left  him 
beggared. 

Rabelais  makes  Echepron,  an  old  soldier,  tell  the  advisers 
of  King  Picrochole,  who  wanted  him  to  go  to  war,  that  a 
shoemaker  bought  a  ha'p'orth  of  milk.  This  he  intended  to 
make  into  butter,  and  buy  a  cow  with  the  money  thus  obtained. 
In  due  time  the  cow  would  have  a  calf;  this  calf  would  be 
sold,  and  so  on  money  would  pile  up,  until,  having  become  a 
nabob,  he  should  wed  a  princess.  Only,  just  at  this  crisis, 
the  jug  fell,  the  milk  was  lost,  and  the  dreamer  sneaked,  sup- 
perless,  to  bed. 

Earliest  Clocks. 

The  first  clock  which  appeared  in  Europe  was  probably  that 
which  Eginhard  (Secretary  to  Charlemagne)  describes  as  sent 
to  his  royal  master  by  Abdallah,  King  of  Persia.  '  'A  horologe 
of  brass,  wonderfully  constructed,  for  the  course  of  the  twelve 
hours,  while  as  many  little  brazen  balls  dropped  upon  bells 
underneath,  and  sounded  each  other."  The  Venetians  had 
clocks  in  872,  and  sent  a  specimen  of  them  that  year  to  Con- 
stantinople. 


81 

Famous  Astronomical  Clock. 

This  clock,  in  the  Strasburg  Cathedral,  was  invented  by 
Isaac  Habrecht,  a  Jewish  astrologer,  in  1439.  He  called  it 
the  "Clock  of  the  Three  Sages,"  because  once  in  every  hour 
the  figures  of  the  Three  Kings  of  Orient  came  out  from  a 
niche  in  its  side,  and  made  a  reverential  bow  before  an  image 
of  the  Virgin  Mary,  seated  just  above  the  dial-plate,  on  the 
front  of  the  clock.  It  is  built  of  dark  wood,  gilded  and 
carved,  and  is  sixty  feet  high.  In  shape  it  is  somewhat 
similar  to  a  church,  with  a  tower  on  either  side  of  the 
entrance;  and  these  towers  of  the  clock  are  encircled  by 
spiral  staircases,  which  are  used  when  repairs  are  necessary. 
When  Isaac  Habrecht  invented  this  wonderful  clock,  he  meant 
it  to  run  forever,  always  displaying  to  the  good  people  of 
Strasburg  the  days  of  the  month,  phases  of  the  sun  and  moon, 
and  other  celestial  phenomena;  and  while  he  lived  it  worked 
admirably,  but  when  he  had  been  dead  awhile,  the  clock 
stopped;  and  as  nobody  else  understood  its  machinery,  it  had 
quite  a  vacation,  which  lasted  until  1681,  when  it  was  repaired 
and  improved. 

It  will  now  not  only  give  the  time  of  Strasburg,  but  every 
principal  city  in  the  world ;  also  the  day  of  the  week  and 
month,  the  course  of  the  sun  and  planets,  and  all  the  eclipses 
of  the  sun  and  moon,  in  their  regular  order.  In  an  alcove 
above  the  dial  is  an  image  of  the  Saviour,  and  every  day,  at 
noon,  figures  of  the  twelve  apostles  march  around  it  and  bow, 
while  the  holy  image,  with  uplifted  hands,  administers  a  silent 
blessing.  A  cock,  on  the  highest  point  of  the  right-hand 
tower,  flaps  his  wings  and  crows  three  times;  and  when  he 
stops,  a  beautiful  chime  of  bells  rings  out  familiar  and  very 
musical  tunes.  A  figure  of  Time,  in  a  niche  on  one  side, 
strikes  the  quarter  hours  from  twelve  to  one,  and  four  figures 
—Childhood,  Youth,  Manhood  and  Old  Age — pass  slowly 


before  him.     In  a  niche  on  the  other  side  is  an  angel  turning 
an  hour-glass. 

Clock  that  Strikes  Thirteen. 

The  Duke  of  Bridgewater  was  very  fond  of  watching  his  men 
at  work,  especially  when  any  enterprise  was  on  foot.  When 
they  were  boring  for  coal  at  Worsley,  the  duke  came  every 
morning,  and  looked  on  for  a  long  time.  The  men  did  not 
like  to  leave  off  work  while  he  remained  there,  and  they 
became  so  dissatisfied  at  having  to  work  so  long  beyond  the 
hour  at  which  the  bell  rang,  that  Brindley  had  difficulty  in 
getting  a  sufficient  number  of  hands  to  continue  the  boring. 
On  inquiry,  he  found  out  the  cause  and  communicated  it  to 
the  duke,  who  from  that  time  made  a  point  of  immediately 
walking  off  when  the  bell  rang — returning  when  the  men  had 
resumed  work,  and  remaining  with  them  usually  until  six 
o'clock.  He  observed,  however,  that  though  the  men  dropped 
work  promptly  as  the  bell  rang,  when  he  was  not  by,  they  were 
not  nearly  so  punctual  in  resuming  work — some  straggling  in 
many  minutes  after  time.  He  asked  to  know  the  reason,  and 
the  men's  excuse  was,  that  though  they  could  always  hear  the 
clock  when  it  struck  twelve,  they  could  not  so  readily  hear  it 
when  it  struck  only  one.  On  hearing  this,  the  duke  had  the 
mechanism  of  the  clock  altered  so  as  to  make  it  strike  thirteen 
at  one  o'clock,  which  it  continues  to  do  to  this  day. 

Westminster  Clock. 

The  winding  up  of  the  going  part  of  the  great  clock  at 
Westminster,  London,  takes  ten  minutes,  the  weight  of  the 
pendulum  being  six  hundred  and  eighty  pounds;  but  the 
winding  up  of  the  striking  parts — the  quarter  part  and  the 
hour  part — takes  five  hours  each,  and  this  has  to  be  done 


83 

twice  a  week.  The  contract  cost  of  winding  up  the  clock  is 
$500  a  year.  The  error  of  the  clock  amounts  to  only  about 
one  second  for  eighty-three  days  in  the  year,  and  there  is 
probably  no  other  clock  in  the  world  of  which  the  same  can 
be  said. 

Wonderful  Clock. 

Toward  the  end  of  the  last  century  a  clock  was  constructed 
by  a  Geneva  mechanic  named  Droz,  capable  of  performing  a 
variety  of  surprising  movements,  which  were  effected  by  the 
figures  of  a  negro,  a  shepherd  and  a  dog.  When  the  clock 
struck,  the  shepherd  played  six  tunes  on  his  flute  and  the  dog 
approached  and  fawned  upon  him.  This  clock  was  exhibited 
to  the  King  of  Spain,  who  was  highly  delighted  with  the 
ingenuity  of  the  artist.  The  king,  at  the  request  of  Droz, 
took  an  apple  from  the  shepherd's  basket,  when  the  dog 
started  up  and  barked  so  loud  that  the  king's  dog,  which  was 
in  the  same  room,  began  to  bark  also.  We  are,  moreover, 
informed  that  the  negro,  on  being  asked  what  hour  it  was, 
answered  the  question  in  French,  so  that  he  could  be  under- 
stood by  those  present. 


Vocal  Clock. 

The  subjoined  description  of  a  curious  clock  is  given  in  the 
journal  of  the  Rev.  J.  Wesley:  "On  Monday,  April  27,  1762, 
being  at  Lurgan,  in  Ireland,  I  embraced  the  opportunity, 
which  I  had  long  desired,  of  talking  to  Mr.  Miller,  the  con- 
triver of  that  statue  which  was  in  Lurgan  when  I  was  there 
before.  It  was  the  figure  of  an  old  man  standing  in  a  case,  with 
a  curtain  drawn  before  him,  over  against  a  clock  which  stood 
on  the  opposite  side  of  the  room.  Every  time  the  clock  struck 
he  opened  the  door  with  one  hand,  drew  back  the  curtain 


84 

with  the  other,  turned  his  head,  as  if  looking  round  on  the 
company,  and  then  said,  with  a  clear,  loud,  articulate  voice: 
'Past  i,'  or  2  or  3,  and  so  on.  But  so  many  came  to  see  this 
(the  like  of  which  all  allowed  was  not  to  be  seen  in  Europe), 
that  Mr.  Miller  was  in  danger  of  being  ruined,  not  having 
time  to  attend  to  his  own  business.  So,  as  none  offered  to 
purchase  it,  or  reward  him  for  his  pains,  he  took  the  whole 
machine  to  pieces." 

Harrison's  Clock. 

In  1735,  Jonn  Harrison,  a  rural  clock-maker,  invented  a 
time-piece  which  scarcely  ever  lost  five  seconds  in  six  months. 
To  him,  in  1767,  was  paid  $100,000,  as  the  first  prize  for  all 
but  an  infallible  time-keeper. 

A  Cat- Clock. 

The  following  curious  incident  is  to  be  found  in  Hue's 
" Chinese  Empire:" — 

"One  day  when  we  went  to  pay  a  visit  to  some  families  of 
Chinese  Christian  peasants,  we  met,  near  a  farm,  a  young  lad 
who  was  taking  a  buffalo  to  graze  along  our  path.  We  asked 
him  carelessly,  as  we  passed,  whether  it  was  yet  noon.  The 
child  raised  his  head  to  look  at  the  sun,  but  it  was  hidden 
behind  thick  clouds,  and  he  could  read  no  answer  there. 
'The  sky  is  so  cloudy,'  said  he;  'but  wait  a  moment;'  and 
with  these  words  he  ran  toward  the  farm,  and  came  back  a  few 
minutes  afterward  with  a  cat  in  his  arms.  'Look  here,' 
said  he,  'it  is  not  noon  yet;'  and  he  showed  us  the  cat's 
eyes,  by  pushing  up  the  lids  with  his  hands.  We  looked  at 
the  child  with  surprise,  but  he  was  evidently  in  earnest. 
'Very  well,'  said  we;  'thank  you;'  and  we  continued  on 
our  way. 


85 

"  To  say  the  truth,  we  had  not  at  all  understood  the  pro- 
ceeding, but  we  did  not  wish  to  question  the  little  pagan,  lest 
he  should  find  out  that  we  were  Europeans  by  our  ignorance. 
As  soon  as  we  reached  the  farm,  however,  we  made  haste  to 
ask  our  Christian  friends  whether  they  could  tell  the  clock  by 
looking  into  a  cat's  eyes.  They  seemed  surprised  at  the  ques- 
tion; but  as  there  was  no  danger  in  confessing  to  them  our 
ignorance  of  the  properties  of  a  cat's  eyes,  we  related  what 
had  just  taken  place.  That  was  all  that  was  necessary ;  our 
complaisant  neophytes  immediately  gave  chase  to  all  the  cats 
in  the  neighborhood.  They  brought  us  three  or  four,  and 
explained  in  what  manner  they  might  be  made  use  of  for 
watches.  They  pointed  out  that  the  pupils  of  their  eyes  went 
on  constantly  growing  narrower  until  twelve  o'clock,  when 
they  became  like  a  fine  line,  as  thin  as  a  hair,  drawn  perpen- 
dicularly across  the  eye,  and  that  after  twelve  the  dilation 
recommenced." 

Curious  Time-Piece. 

About  1679  Nicholas  Grallier  de  Servierre,  an  old  soldier 
who  had  served  in  the  Italian  army,  constructed  a  whimsical 
clock.  A  figure  of  a  tortoise,  dropped  into  a  plate  of  water, 
having  the  hours  marked  on  the  rim,  would  float  around  and 
stop  at  the  proper  time,  telling  what  o'clock  it  was.  A 
lizard  ascended  a  pillar,  on  which  the  hours  were  marked,  and 
pointed  to  the  time  as  it  advanced.  A  mouse  did  the  same 
thing  by  creeping  along  an  hour-marked  cornice. 

Clock  Presented  to  Charlemagne. 

The  French  historians  describe  a  clock  sent  to  Charlemagne 
in  the  year  807,  by  the  famous  eastern  caliph,  Haroun-al- 
Raschid,  which  was  evidently  furnished  with  some  kind  of 


86 

wheel-work,  although  the  moving  power  appears  to  have  been 
produced  by  the  fall  of  water.  In  the  dial  of  it  were  twelve 
small  doors  forming  the  divisions  for -the  hours,  each  door 
opened  at  the  hour  marked  by  the  index,  and  let  out  small 
brass  balls  which,  falling  on  a  bell,  struck  the  hours — a  great 
novelty  at  that  time.  The  doors  continued  open  until  the 
hour  of  twelve,  when  twelve  figures,  representing  knights  on 
horseback,  came  out  and  paraded  around  the  dial-plate. 

Delicate  Machinery. 

Machines  in  a  watch  factory  will  cut  screws  with  589 
threads  to  an  inch.  These  threads  are  invisible  to  the  naked 
eye,  and  it  takes  144,000  of  the  screws  to  make  a  pound.  A 
pound  of  them  is  worth  six  pounds  of  pure  gold.  Lay  one  of 
them  upon  a  piece  of  white  paper,  and  it  looks  like  a  tiny 
steel  filing. 

Ancient  Dials. 

The  dial  in  use  among  the  ancient  Jews  differed  from  that 
in  use  among  us.  Theirs  was  a  kind  of  stairs;  the  time  of 
the  day  was  distinguished,  not  by  lines,  but  by  steps  or 
degrees ;  the  shade  of  the  sun  every  hour  moved  forward  to  a 
new  degree.  On  the  dial  of  Ahaz,  the  sun  went  back  degrees 
or  steps,  not  lines. 

Skull  Watches. 

Diana  of  Poictiers,  the  mistress  of  Henry  II.,  being  a  widow, 
the  courtiers  of  the  period,  to  ingratiate  themselves  in  her 
favor,  used  to  present  her  with  watches  in  such  shapes  as  cof- 
fins, skulls,  etc.,  and  it  became  the  fashion  to  have  them  made 
in  this  lugubrious  style.  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  is  said  to 


87 

have  had  several,  and  she  gave  one  to  Mary  Letown,  in  1587, 
which  is  still  in  existence.  It  was  made  by  Moyse,  of  Blois, 
France,  and  has  been  thus  described : — 

"The  watch  has  a  silver  casing  in  the  form  of  a  skull,  which 
separates  at  the  jaws  so  as  to  expose  the  dial,  which  is  also  of 
silver,  occupying  about  the  position  of  the  palate,  and  is  fixed 
in  a  golden  circle,  with  the  hours  in  Roman  letters.  The 
movement  appropriately  occupies  the  place  of  the  brains,  but 
is  enclosed  in  a  bell,  filling  the  hollow  of  the  skull,  which  bell 
is  struck  by  the  hammer  to  sound  the  hours.  The  case  is 
highly  ornamented  with  fine  engravings,  showing  on  the  front 
of  the  skull  Death  standing  between  a  cottage  and  a  palace  j 
in  the  rear  is  Time  devouring  all  things;  on  one  side  of  the 
upper  part  of  the  skull  are  Adam  and  Eve  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden,  with  the  serpent  tempting  Eve;  on  the  opposite  side  is 
the  Crucifixion.  Inside,  on  the  plate  or  lid,  is  the  Holy  Family 
in  the  stable,  with  the  infant  Saviour  in  the  manger,  and 
angels  ministering  to  him.  In  the  distance  are  the  Shepherds 
with  their  flocks,  etc."  The  works  are  said  to  be  in  good 
order  and  to  perform  astonishingly  well. 

Book-Shaped  Watch. 

One  of  the  choicest  rarities  of  the  Bernal  collection  is  a 
book-shaped  watch.  It  was  made  for  Bogislaus  XIV.,  Duke 
of  Pomerania,  in  the  time  of  Gustavus  Adolphus.  On  the 
dial-side  there  is  an  engraved  inscription  of  the  duke  and  his 
titles,  with  the  date  1627,  and  the  engraving  of  his  armorial 
bearings ;  on  the  back  of  the  case  there  are  engraved  two  male 
portraits,  buildings,  &c.  The  watch  has  apparently  two 
separate  movements,  and  a  large  bell;  at  the  back,  over  the 
bell,  the  metal  is  ornamentally  pierced  in  a  circle,  with  a 
dragon  and  other  devices.  It  bears  the  maker's  name, 
"Dionistus  Hessichti." 


88 

Cruciform  Watch 

In  the  family  of  Lady  Fitzgerald,  of  England,  there  is  a 
cruciform  watch  made  in  1770,  and  covered  with  elaborate 
drawings  of  a  delicate  character.  The  centre  of  the  dial- 
plate  has  a  representation  of  Christ's  agony  in  the  garden,  the 
outer  compartments  being  occupied  by  the  emblems  of  the 
passion,  and  the  lowermost  by  a  figure  of  Faith. 


Miniature  Time-Piece. 

The  time-piece  carried  by  Louis  XIV.  of  France  was  so 
small  that  it  was  set  in  one  of  that  luxurious  monarch's  finger- 
rings. 

Resurrection  Watch. 

During  the  reign  of  Catherine  II.  of  Russia,  Kalutin,  a 
peasant,  made  a  musical  repeating  watch  about  the  size  of  an 
egg,  which  had  within  it  a  representation  of  Christ's  tomb, 
with  sentinels  on  guard.  On  pressing  a  spring  the  stone 
would  be  rolled  from  the  tomb,  the  angels  appear,  the  holy 
women  enter  the  sepulchre,  and  the  same  chant  which  is  sung 
in  the  Greek  Church  on  Easter  eve  accurately  performed. 
The  watch  is  now  in  the  Academy  of  Sciences  at  St.  Peters- 
burg. 

Borrowing  Watches. 

Watches  were  so  rarely  in  use  in  the  early  time  of  James  I. 
that  it  was  deemed  a  cause  of  suspicion  that  one  was  found,  in 
1605,  upon  Guy  Vaux.  Jonson,  in  his  "Alchemist,"  tells  of 
the  loan  of  one  to  wear  on  a  particular  occasion — 

And  I  had  lent  my  watch  last  night  to  one 
That  dines  to-day  at  the  sheriff's. 


89 

Striking  Watches. 

Hon.  Mr.  Barrington  mentions  that  a  thief  was  detected  bj 
watches  called  "strikers,"  which  he  says  were  introduced  in 
the  reign  of  Charles  II.;  but  repeating  watches  were  worn  in 
the  time  of  Ben  Jonson.  In  his  "  Staple  of  News,"  we  read — 

— It  strikes !  one,  two, 

Three,  four,  five,  six.     Enough,  enough,  dear  watch, 
Thy  pulse  hath  beat  enough.     Now  stop  and  rest ; 
Would  thou  couldst  make  the  time  to  do  so  too ; 
I  '11  wind  thee  up  no  more. 

Too  Many  Watches. 

Watches  were  very  common  in  1638.  It  is  complained  in 
the  "Antipodes,"  a  comedy  of  that  year,  that 

—Every  clerk  can  carry 
The  time  of  day  in  his  pocket. 

On  which  account  a  projector  in  the  same  play  proposes  to 
diminish  the  grievance  by  a 

— Project  against 
The  multiplicity  of  pocket  watches. 

Wearing  Two  Watches. 

About  1770  it  became  the  fashion  to  wear  two  watches.  In 
a  rhyming  recipe  of  that  date,  "  To  Make  a  Modern  Fop," 
appear  the  lines — 

"A  lofty  cane,  a  sword  with  silver  hilt, 
A  ring,  two  watches  and  a  snuff-box  gilt." 

The  ladies  soon  adopted  the  fashion,  but  as  watches  were 
still  very  expensive,  mock  watches  were  often  substituted. 


90 

Minute  Mechanisms. 

There  is  a  cherry  stone  at  the  Salem  (Mass. )  Museum  which 
contains  one  dozen  silver  spoons.  The  stone  itself  is  of  the 
ordinary  size,  but  the  spoons  are  so  small  that  their  shape 
and  finish  can  only  be  distinguished  by  the  microscope.  Dr. 
Oliver  gives  an  account  of  a  cherry  stone  on  which  were 
carved  one  hundred  and  twenty-four  heads,  so  distinctly  that 
the  naked  eye  could  distinguish  those  belonging  to  popes  and 
kings  by  their  mitres  and  crowns.  It  was  bought  in  Prussia 
for  fifteen  thousand  dollars,  and  thence  conveyed  to  England, 
where  it  was  considered  an  object  of  so  much  value  that  its 
possession  was  disputed,  and  it  became  the  subject  of  a  suit 
in  chancery.  One  of  the  Nuremberg  toy-makers  enclosed  in 
a  cherry  stone,  which  was  exhibited  at  the  French  Crystal 
Palace,  a  plan  of  Sevastopol,  a  railway  station,  and  the 
"Messiah"  of  Klopstock.  In  more  remote  times,  an  ac- 
count is  given  of  an  ivory  chariot,  constructed  by  Mermecides, 
which  was  so  small  that  a  fly  could  cover  it  with  its  wing; 
also  a  ship  of  the  same  material,  which  could  be  hidden  under 
the  wing  of  a  bee.  Pliny  tells  us  that  Homer's  Iliad,  with 
its  fifteen  thousand  verses,  was  written  in  so  small  a  space  as 
to  be  contained  in  a  nutshell ;  while  Elian  mentions  an  artist 
who  wrote  a  distich  in  letters  of  gold,  which  he  enclosed  in 
the  rind  of  a  kernel  of  corn.  But  the  Harleian  MS.  mentions 
a  greater  curiosity  than  any  of  the  former,  it  being  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  the  Bible,  written  by  one  Peter  Bales,  a 
chancery  clerk,  in  so  small  a  book  that  it  could  be  enclosed 
within  the  shell  of  an  English  walnut.  There  is  a  drawing  of 
the  head  of  Charles  II.  in  the  library  of  St.  John's  College, 
Oxford,  wholly  composed  of  minutely  written  characters, 
which  at  a  short  distance  resemble  the  lines  of  an  ordinary 
engraving.  The  head  and  ruff  are  said  to  contain  the  book  of 
Psalms,  in  Greek,  and  the  Lord's  Prayer. — Bombaugh. 


91 

Wonderful  Lock. 

Among  the  wonderful  products  of  art  in  the  French  Crystal 
Palace  was  shown  a  lock  which  admitted  of  3,674,385  com- 
binations. Heuret  spent  one  hundred  and  twenty  nights  in 
locking  it ;  Fichet  was  four  months  in  unlocking  it ;  after- 
wards they  could  neither  shut  nor  open  it. 

Roman  Stamp. 

This  curiosity  is  preserved  in  the  British  Museum.  It  is 
the  very  earliest  specimen  of  printing  by  means  of  ink  or  any 
similar  substance.  It  is  made  of  metal,  a  sort  of  Roman 
brass,  the  ground  of  which  is  covered  with  a  green  kind  of 
verdigris  rust  with  which  antique  medals  are  usually  covered. 
The  letters  rise  flush  up  to  the  elevation  of  the  exterior  rim 
which  surrounds  it.  Its  dimensions  are  about  two  inches  long 
by  one  inch  broad.  At  the  back  of  it  is  a  small  ring  for  the 
finger,  to  make  it  more  convenient  to  hold.  As  no  person  of 
the  name  which  is  inscribed  upon  it  is  mentioned  in  Roman 
history,  he  is,  therefore,  supposed  to  have  been  a  functionary 
of  some  Roman  officer,  or  private  steward,  who,  perhaps,  used 
this  stamp  to  save  himself  the  trouble  of  writing  his  name. 

Talisman  of  Charlemagne. 

The  Emperor  Napoleon  III.,  when  Prince  Louis  Napoleon, 
was  stated  to  be  in  possession  of  the  talisman  of  Charlemagne 
to  which  allusion  is  frequently  made  in  traditional  history. 
This  curious  object  of  vertu  is  mentioned  in  the  Parisian 
journals  as  la  plus  belle  relique  de  F Europe,  and  it  certainly 
has  excited  considerable  interest  in  the  archaeological  and  re- 
ligious circles  on  the  continent.  The  talisman  is  of  fine  gold, 


92 

of  a  round  form,  set  with  gems,  and  in  the  centre  are  two 
rough  sapphires  and  a  portion  of  the  Holy  Cross,  besides 
other  relics  brought  from  the  Holy  Land.  This  was  found 
round  the  neck  of  Charlemagne  on  the  opening  of  his  tomb, 
and  given  by  the  town  of  Aachen  (Aix-la-Chapelle)  to  Bona- 
parte, and  by  him  to  his  favorite  Hortense,  ci-devant  Queen  of 
Holland,  at  whose  death  it  descended  to  her  son  Prince  Louis, 
the  late  Emperor  of  the  French. 

The  Black  Stone  at  Mecca. 

Near  the  entrance  of  the  Kaaba,  at  Mecca,  is  the  famous 
Black  Stone,  called  by  the  Moslems  Hajra  el  Assouad,  or 
Heavenly  Stone.  It  forms  a  part  of  the  sharp  angle  of  the 
building,  and  is  inserted  four  or  five  feet  above  the  ground. 
It  is  an  irregular  oval,  and  is  about  seven  inches  in  diameter. 
Its  color  is  now  a  deep  reddish  brown,  approaching  to  black, 
and  it  is  surrounded  by  a  border  of  nearly  the  same  color, 
resembling  a  cement  of  pitch  and  gravel,  and  from  two  to 
three  inches  in  breadth.  Both  the  border  and  the  stone  itself 
are  encircled  by  a  silver  band,  swelling  to  a  considerable 
breadth  below,  where  it  is  studded  with  nails  of  the  same 
metal.  The  surface  is  undulated,  and  seems  composed  of 
about  a  dozen  smaller  stones,  of  different  sizes  and  shapes, 
but  perfectly  smooth,  and  well  joined  with  a  small  quantity  of 
cement.  It  looks  as  if  the  whole  had  been  dashed  into  many 
pieces  by  a  severe  concussion,  and  then  re-united — an  appear- 
ance that  may  perhaps  be  explained  by  the  various  disasters 
to  which  it  has  been  exposed.  During  the  fire  that  occurred 
in  the  time  of  Yezzid  I.  (A.  D.  682),  the  violent  heat  split  it 
into  three  pieces ;  and  when  the  fragments  were  replaced,  it 
was  necessary  to  surround  them  with  a  rim  of  silver,  which  is 
said  to  have  been  renewed  by  Haroun-al-Raschid.  It  was  in 
two  pieces  when  the  Karmathians  carried  it  away,  it  having 


93 

been  broken  by  a  blow  from  a  soldier  during  the  plunder  of 
Mecca.  Hakem,  a  mad  Sultan  of  Egypt,  in  the  eleventh 
century,  attempted,  while  on  a  pilgrimage,  to  destroy  it  with 
an  iron  club  which  he  had  concealed  under  his  clothes,  but 
was  prevented  and  slain  by  the  populace.  After  that  accident 
it  remained  unmolested  until  1674,  when  it  was  found  one 
morning  besmeared  with  dirt,  so  that  every  one  who  kissed 
it  returned  with  a  sullied  face.  As  for  the  quality  of  the 
stone,  it  does  not  seem  to  be  accurately  determined.  Burck- 
hardt  says  it  appeared  to  him  like  a  lava  containing  several 
small  extraneous  particles  of  a  whitish  and  yellowish  substance. 
Ali  Bey  calls  it  a  fragment  of  volcanic  basalt,  sprinkled  with 
small -pointed  colored  crystals,  and  varied  with  red  feldspar. 
The  millions  of  kisses  and  touches  impressed  by  the  faithful 
have  worn  the  surface  uneven,  and  to  a  considerable  depth. 
This  miraculous  block  all  orthodox  Mussulmans  believe  to 
have  been  originally  a  transparent  hyacinth  brought  from 
heaven  to  Abraham  by  the  angel  Gabriel ;  but  that  its  sub- 
stance, as  well  as  its  color,  have  long  been  changed  by  coming 
in  contact  with  the  impurities  of  the  human  race. 

The  Portland  Vase. 

This  was  the  name  of  a  beautiful  cinerary  urn,  of  trans- 
parent dark  blue  glass,  found  about  the  middle  of  the  six- 
teenth century  in  a  marble  sarcophagus  near  Rome.  It  was  at 
first  deposited  in  the  Barberini  Palace  at  Rome,  and  hence  is 
often  called  the  Barberini  Vase.  Next  it  became  (in  1770)  the 
property,  by  purchase,  of  Sir  William  Hamilton,  from  whose 
possession  it  passed  into  that  of  the  Duchess  of  Portland.  In 
1810  the  Duke  of  Portland,  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  British 
Museum,  allowed  it  to  be  placed  in  that  institution,  retaining 
his  right  over  it  as  his  own  property.  In  1845  a  miscreant 
named  William  Lloyd,  apparently  from  an  insane  love  of 


94 

mischief,  or  a  diseased  ambition  for  notoriety,  dashed  the 
valuable  relic  to  pieces  with  a  stone.  Owing  to  the  defective 
state  of  the  law,  only  a  slight  punishment  could  be  inflicted; 
but  an  act  was  immediately  passed  making  such  an  offence 
punishable  with  imprisonment  for  two  years.  The  pieces  of 
the  fractured  vase  were  afterwards  united  in  a  very  complete 
manner;  and,  thus  repaired,  it  still  exists  in  the  Museum,  but 
is  not  exhibited  to  the  public. 

Martin  Luther's  Tankard. 

This  interesting  relic  of  the  great  reformer  is  of  ivory,  very 
richly  carved,  and  mounted  in  silver-gilt.  There  are  six 
medallions  on  its  surface,  which  consist,  however,  of  a  repeti- 
tion of  two  subjects.  The  upper  one  represents  the  agony  in 
the  garden  and  the  Saviour  praying  that  the  cup  might  pass 
from  Him ;  the  base  represents  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  centre 
dish  being  the  incarnation  of  the  bread.  This  tankard,  now 
in  the  possession  of  Lord  Londesborough,  was  formerly  in  the 
collection  of  Elkington,  of  Birmingham,  who  had  some  copies 
made  of  it.  On  the  lid,  in  old  characters,  is  the  following : 
"C.  M.  L.,  MDXXIIII." 

Brass  Medal  of  the  Saviour. 

\  ' 

In  1702  Rev.  H.  Rowlands,  author  of  Mono,  Antigua,  while 
superintending  the  removal  of  some  stones  near  Aberfraw, 
Wales,  for  the  purpose  of  making  an  antiquarian  research, 
found  a  beautiful  brass  medal  of  the  Saviour  in  a  fine  state  of 
preservation,  which  he  forwarded  to  his  friend  and  country- 
man, the  Rev.  E.  Lloyd,  author  of  the  Archeologice  Britannic  a, 
and  at  that  time-keeper  of  the  Ashmolean  Library  at  Oxford. 

This  medal  has  on  one  side  the  figure  of  a  head  exactly 


95 

answering  the  description  given  by  Publius  Lentulus  of  our 
Saviour,  in  a  letter  sent  by  him  to  the  Emperor  Tiberius  and 
the  Senate  of  Rome.  On  the  reverse  side  it  has  the  following 
legend  or  inscription  in  Hebrew  characters  :  "  This  is  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Mediator  or  Reconciler;"  or,  "Jesus  the  Great 
Messias,  or  Man  Mediator."  Being  found  among  the  ruins 
of  the  chief  Druid's  residence  in  Anglesea,  it  is  not  improba- 
ble that  the  curious  relic  belonged  to  some  Christian  connected 
with  Bran  the  Blessed,  who  was  one  of  Caractacus's  hostages 
at  Rome  from  A.  D.  52  to  59,  at  which  time  the  Apostle  Paul 
was  preaching  the  gospel  at  Rome.  In  two  years  afterwards, 
A.  D.  61,  the  Roman  General  Suetonius  extirpated  all  the 
Druids  in  the  island.  The  following  is  a  translation  of  the 
letter  alluded  to,  a  very  antique  copy  of  which  is  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  family  of  Lord  Kellie,  now  represented  by  the 
Earl  of  Mar,  a  very  ancient  Scotch  family,  taken  from  the 
original  at  Rome  : — 

"  There  hath  appeared  in  these  our  days  a  man  of  great 
virtue,  named  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  yet  living  among  us,  and 
of  the  Gentiles  is  accepted  as  a  prophet,  but  his  disciples  call 
him  The  Son  of  God.  He  raiseth  the  dead,  and  cures  all 
manner  of  diseases;  a  man  of  stature  somewhat  tall  and 
comely,  with  very  reverend  countenance,  such  as  the  beholders 
both  love  and  fear;  his  hair  the  color  of  chestnut,  full  ripe, 
plain  to  his  ears,  whence  downward  it  is  more  orient,  curling, 
and  waving  about  his  shoulders. 

"In  the  midst  of  his  head  is  a  seam  or  a  partition  of  his 
hair  after  the  manner  of  the  Nazarites;  his  forehead  plain  and 
very  delicate;  his  face  without  a  spot  or  wrinkle,  beautified 
with  the  most  lovely  red ;  his  mouth  and  nose  so  formed  that 
nothing  can  be  reprehended ;  his  beard  thickish,  in  color  like 
his  hair,  not  very  long  but  forked;  his  look,  innocent  and 
mature;  his  eyes  gray,  clear  and  quick.  In  reproving,  he  is 
terrible;  in  admonishing,  courteous  and  fair  spoken;  pleas- 


96 

ant  in  conversation,  mixed  with  gravity.  It  cannot  be 
remarked  that  any  one  saw  him  laugh,  but  many  have  seen 
him  weep.  In  proportion  of  body  most  excellent ;  his  hands 
and  arms  most  delicate  to  behold.  In  speaking,  very  temper- 
ate, modest  and  wise.  A  man,  for  his  singular  beauty,  sur- 
passing the  children  of  men." 

The  representation  of  this  sacred  person  which  is  in  the 
Bodleian  Library,  somewhat  resembles  that  of  the  print  of  this 
medal,  when  compared  together. 

Friar  Bacon's  Brazen  Head. 

The  most  famous  of  all  the  brazen  heads  was  that  of  Roger 
Bacon,  a  monk  of  the  thirteenth  century.  According  to  the 
legend,  he  spent  seven  years  in  constructing  the  head,  and  he 
expected  to  be  told  by  it  how  he  could  make  a  wall  of  brass 
around  the  island  of  Great  Britain.  The  head  was  warranted 
to  speak  within  a  month  after  it  was  finished,  but  no  particular 
time  was  named  for  its  doing  so.  Bacon's  man  was  therefore 
set  to  watch,  with  orders  to  call  his  master  if  the  head  should 
speak.  At  the  end  of  half  an  hour  after  the  man  was  left 
alone  with  the  head,  he  heard  it  say,  "Time  is,"  at  the 
expiration  of  another  half  hour,  "Time  was,"  and  at  the  end 
of  a  third  half  hour,  "Time's  past,"  when  it  fell  down  with 
a  loud  crash,  and  was  shivered  to  pieces;  but  the  stupid  ser- 
vant neglected  to  awaken  his  master,  thinking  that  he  would 
be  very  angry  to  be  disturbed  for  such  trifles:  and  so  the  wall 
of  brass  has  never  been  built. 

Crucifix  of  Columbus. 

Mrs.  General  Hefferman,  of  Animas  City,  is  the  possessor 
of  a  very  interesting  and  valuable  relic,  it  being  no  less  than 
the  veritable  crucifix  which  Columbus  held  in  his  hand  when  he 


97 

landed  in  America,  of  which  she  has  ample  documentary  evi- 
dence, if  one  accept  the  witness,  viz:  the  Catholic  Church. 
It  has  been  in  the  possession  of  the  missions  and  churches  of 
Mexico  and  California  since  a  very  early  date;  and  even  if 
originally  a  fraud,  it  would  nevertheless  be  almost  as  inter- 
esting, from  its  great  age  and  as  a  work  of  art,  as  though  what 
is  claimed  for  it  were  actually  true.  Mrs.  Hefferman  holds  it 
in  trust  for  a  religious  order  to  which  her  mother  belonged, 
and  sacredly  believes  it  a  genuine  relic,  as  claimed.  The 
crucifix  itself  is  of  carved  wood,  of  what  kind  no  one  is  able 
to  determine.  The  image  of  Christ  upon  it  is  of  carved  ivory. 
The  expression  of  agony  depicted  on  the  countenance  and  in 
the  drawn  muscles  and  sunken  flesh,  as  well  as  the  delineation 
of  the  anatomical  structure,  are  triumphs  of  artistic  skill  which 
could  not  be  surpassed,  if  equalled,  by  the  best  artists  of  the 
present  day. — Durango  (Col.)  fiecord. 

Scipio's  Shield. 

In  1656  a  fisherman  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhone,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Avignon,  drew  to  shore  in  his  net  a  round 
substance  in  the  shape  of  a  large  plate,  thickly  encrusted  with 
a  coat  of  hardened  mud.  A  silversmith  who  happened  to  be 
present  bought  it  for  a  trifling  sum.  He  took  it  home,  and 
upon  cleaning  and  polishing  it,  found  it  to  consist  of  pure 
silver,  perfectly  round,  more  than  two  feet  in  diameter,  and 
weighing  upwards  of  twenty  pounds.  Fearing  that  such  a 
massive  and  valuable  piece  of  plate  might  awaken  suspicion, 
if  offered  for  sale  entire,  he  divided  it  into  four  equal  parts, 
each  of  which  he  disposed  of  at  different  times  and  places. 

One  of  the  pieces  was  sold  at  Lyons  to  Mr.  Mey,  a  wealthy 
and  well-educated  merchant,  who  at  once  saw  its  value  and 
who,  after  great  effort,  procured  the  other  three  sections.  He 
had  them  nicely  rejoined,  and  the  treasure  was  finally  placed 


98 

in  the  cabinet  of  the  King  of  France.  This  relic  of  antiquity, 
no  less  remarkable  for  the  beauty  of  its  workmanship  than  for 
v  having  been  buried  at  the  bottom  of  the  Rhone  more  than  two 
thousand  years,  was  a  votive  shield,  presented  to  Scipio  as  a 
token  of  gratitude  and  affection  by  the  inhabitants  of  Carthago 
Nova,  now  the  city  of  Carthagena,  for  his  generosity  and  self- 
denial  in  delivering  one  of  his  captives,  a  beautiful  virgin,  to 
her  original  lover.  This  act,  so  honorable  to  the  Roman 
general,  who  was  then  in  the  prime  vigor  of  manhood,  is 
represented  on  the  shield. 


Horn  of  Oldenburg. 

The  story  of  the  Horn  of  Oldenburg  is  a  type  of  the  legends 
which  connect  valuable  plate,  &c.,  belonging  to  old  churches 
with  underground  fairies.  The  pictures  of  the  horn  represent 
it  as  a  beautiful  drinking  vessel  in  the  shape  of  a  horn, 
exquisitely  decorated  with  the  finest  fanciful  silver-work,  in 
the  style  contemporary  with  the  richest  Gothic  architecture. 
The  legend  is,  that  one  day,  Otto  of  Oldenburg,  being 
exhausted  with  hunting,  and  very  thirsty,  exclaimed:  "O 
God,  would  that  I  had  a  cool  drink!"  Thereupon  appeared 
before  him,  as  if  coming  out  of  the  rock,  a  lovely  maiden,  who 
offered  him  a  drink  in  the  fairy  horn.  He  made  off  with  it, 
and  saved  himself  from  evil  consequences  by  bestowing  it  on 
the  church. 

Nebuchadnezzar's  Golden  Mask. 

This  interesting  relic  of  remote  antiquity  is  at  present  pre- 
served in  the  Museum  of  the  East  India  Company.  It  was 
found  by  Colonel  Rawlinson  while  engaged  in  prosecuting  the 
discoveries  commenced  by  Layard  and  Botta,  at  Nineveh  and 
Babylon,  and  is  supposed  to  have  belonged  to  King  Nebuchad- 


99 

nezzar.  The  body  was  discovered  in  a  perfect  state  of  preser- 
vation, and  the  face  covered  by  the  golden  mask  is  described 
as  handsome,  the  forehead  high  and  commanding,  the  features 
marked  and  regular.  The  mask  is  of  thin  gold,  and,  inde- 
pendent of  its  having  once  belonged  to  the  great  monarch, 
has  immense  value  as  a  relic  of  an  ancient  and  celebrated 
people. 

Iron  Crown  of  LoTnbardy. 

When  the  Emperor  Napoleon  I.  was  crowned  King  of  Italy, 
1805,  he  placed  the  iron  crown  of  the  kings  of  Lombardy 
upon  his  head  with  his  own  hands,  exclaiming,  "God  has 
given  it  to  me— beware  who  touches,"  which  was  the  haughty 
motto  attached  to  it  by  its  ancient  owners.  The  crown  takes 
its  name  from  the  narrow  iron  band  within  it,  which  is  about 
three-eighths  of  an  inch  broad  and  one-tenth  of  an  inch  in 
thickness.  It  is  traditionally  said  to  have  been  made  out  of 
one  of  the  nails  used  at  the  crucifixion,  and  given  to  Con- 
stantine  by  his  mother,  the  Empress  Helena,  the  discoverer  of 
the  Cross,  to  protect  him  in  battle.  The  crown  is  kept  in  the 
Cathedral  of  Monza.  The  outer  circlet  is  composed  of  six 
equal  pieces  of  beaten  gold,  joined  together  by  hinges,  and 
set  with  large  rubies,  emeralds  and  sapphires,  on  a  ground  of 
blue-gold  enamel.  Within  the  circlet  is  the  iron  crown,  with- 
out a  speck  of  rust,  although  it  is  more  than  fifteen  hundred 
years  old. 

The  Sacro  Catino. 

The  celebrated  Sacred  Catino,  part  of  the  spoil  taken  by 
the  Genoese  at  the  storming  of  Cesarea,  which  was  believed 
to  be  cut  from  a  single  emerald,  and  had,  according  to  tra- 
dition, been  presented  by  t^e  Queen  of  Sheba  to  Solomon, 
was  for  ages  the  pride  and  glory  of  Genoa,  and  an  object  of 


100 

the  greatest  devotional  reverence  at  the  yearly  exhibitions, 
which  were  attended  with  great  pomp  and  ceremony.  Such 
was  the  opinion  of  its  intrinsic  value,  that  on  many  occasions 
the  republic  borrowed  half  a  million  of  ducats  upon  security 
of  this  precious  relic.  When  the  French  armies,  during  the 
first  revolution,  plundered  Italy  of  its  treasures,  it  was  sent, 
with  other  spoils,  to  Paris.  Upon  examination,  it  was,  instead 
of  emerald,  proved  to  be  composed  of  glass,  similar  to  that 
found  in  Egyptian  tombs,  of  which  country  it  was,  no  doubt, 
the  manufacture.  At  the  Restoration  the  Sacro  Catino  was 
returned  in  a  broken  state,  and  now  lies  shorn  of  all  its  honors, 
a  mere  broken  glass  vessel,  in  the  sacristy  of  the  Church  of 
San  Lorenzo. 

Curious  Lantern. 

In  1602  it  is  related  that  Sir  John  Harrington,  of  Bath, 
sent  to  James  VI.,  of  Scotland,  as  a  new  year's  gift,  a  dark 
lantern.  The  top  was  a  crown  of  pure  gold,  serving  also  to 
cover  a  perfume  pan.  Within  it  was  a  shield  of  silver, 
embossed,  to  reflect  the  light;  on  one  side  of  the  shield  were 
the  sun,  moon  and  planets,  and  on  the  other  side  the  story  of 
the  birth  and  passion  of  Christ,  as  it  was  engraved  by  David 
II.,  King  of  Scotland,  who  was  a  prisoner  at  Nottingham. 
The  following  words  were  inscribed  in  Latin  on  the  present : 
"Lord,  remember  me  when  thou  comest  into  thy  kingdom." 

Carrara's  Toilet  Box. 

Francis  Carrara,  the  last  Lord  of  Padua,  was  famous  for  his 
cruelties.  At  Venice  is  exhibited  a  little  box  for  the  toilet, 
in  which  are  six  little  guns,  which  were  adjusted  with  springs 
in  such  a  manner,  that  upon  opening  the  box  the  guns  were 
discharged,  and  killed  the  lady  to  whom  Carrara  had  sent  it 
tor  a  present. 


101 

Executioner's  Sword. 

This  weapon  forms  one  of  the  curiosities  in  the  superb  col- 
lection of  ancient  armor  which  belonged  to  Sir  Samuel  R. 
Meyrick,  at  Herefordshire.  It  bears  the  date  of  1674.  The 
blade  is  thin  and  exceedingly  sharp  at  both  edges.  Engraved 
on  it  is  a  man  impaled,  above  which  are  some  words  in  Ger- 
man, of  which  the  following  is  a  translation: — 

Look  every  one  that  has  eyes, 
Look  here,  and  see  that 
To  erect  power  on  wickedness 
Cannot  last  long. 

A  man  holding  a  crucifix,  his  eyes  bandaged,  is  on  his 
knees;  the  executioner,  with  his  right  hand  on  the  hilt  and 
his  left  on  the  pommel,  is  about  to  strike  the  blow;  above  is 
engraved — 

He  who  ambitiously  exalts  himself, 

And  thinks  only  of  evil, 

Has  his  neck  already  encompassed 

By  punishment. 

On  the  other  side  is  a  man  broken  on  a  wheel,  over  which 
is — 

I  live,  I  know  not  how  long; 
I  die,  but  I  know  not  when. 

Also  a  man  suspended  by  the  ribs  from  a  gibbet,  with  the 
inscription — 

I  move,  without  knowing  whither ; 
I  wonder  I  am  so  tranquil. 

Luck  of  Eden-hall. 

Hutchinson,  in  his  "History  of  Cumberland,"  speaking  of 
Eden-hall,  says :  "In  this  house  are  some  old-fashioned 
apartments.  An  old  painted  drinking-glass,  called  the  '  Luck 


102 

of  Eden-hall,'  is  preserved  with  great  care.  In  the  garden, 
near  to  the  house,  is  a  well  of  excellent  spring  water,  called 
St.  Cuthbert's  well.  The  glass  is  supposed  to  have  been  a 
sacred  chalice,  but  the  legendary  tale  is,  that  the  butler,  going 
to  draw  water,  surprised  a  company  of  fairies  who  were 
amusing  themselves  upon  the  green  near  the  well.  He  seized 
the  glass  which  was  standing  upon  its  margin;  they  tried  to 
get  it  from  him,  but,  after  an  ineffectual  struggle,  flew  away, 
singing — 

'  If  that  glass  either  break  or  fall, 
Farewell  the  luck  of  Eden-hall.' " 


Bernini's  Bust  of  Charles  I. 

Vandyck  having  drawn  the  king  in  three  different  faces,  a 
profile,  three-quarters  and  a  full  face,  the  picture  was  sent  to 
Rome  for  Bernini  to  make  a  bust  from  it.  Bernini  was  un- 
accountably dilatory  in  the  work,  and  upon  this  being  com- 
plained of,  he  said  that  he  had  set  about  it  several  times,  but 
there  was  something  so  unfortunate  in  the  features  of  the  face 
that  he  was  shocked  every  time  that  he  examined  it,  and 
forced  to  leave  off  the  work,  observing,  that  if  any  stress 
was  to  be  laid  upon  physiognomy,  he  was  sure  the  person 
whom  the  picture  represented  was  destined  to  a  violent  end. 
The  bust  was  at  last  finished,  and  sent  to  England.  As  soon 
as  the  ship  that  brought  it  arrived  in  the  Thames,  the  king, 
who  was  very  impatient  to  see  the  bust,  ordered  it  to  be  taken 
immediately  to  Chelsea.  It  was  accordingly  carried  thither, 
and  placed  upon  a  table  in  the  garden,  whither  the  king  went, 
with  a  train  of  nobility,  to  inspect  the  work.  As  they  were 
viewing  it,  a  hawk  flew  over  their  heads,  with  a  partridge  in 
his  claws,  which  he  had  wounded  to  death.  Some  of  the 
partridge's  blood  fell  upon  the  neck  of  the  bust,  where  it  re- 
mained without  being  wiped  off. 


103 

Burn's  Snuff-box. 

Burns  and  Mr.  Bacon,  the  latter  an  inn-keeper  near  Dum- 
fries, were  very  intimate,  and,  as  a  token  of  regard,  the  former 
gave  to  the  latter  his  snuff-box,  which  for  many  years  had 
been  his  pocket  companion.  On  Mr.  Bacon's  death,  in  1825, 
his  effects  were  sold  The  snuff-box  was  put  up  for  sale 
among  the  other  things,  and  some  one  bid  a  shilling.  There 
was  a  general  exclamation  that  it  was  not  worth  two-pence. 
The  auctioneer,  before  knocking  it  down,  opened  the  box. 
He  saw  engraved  on  the  lid,  and  read  aloud,  the  following 
inscription : — 

"RoBT.  BURNS, 
OFFICER 

OF 

THE  EXCISE." 

The  value  of  the  box  suddenly  rose.  Shilling  after  shilling 
was  added,  until  it  was  finally  knocked  down  for  five  pounds 
to  a  Mr.  Munnell,  of  Closburn. — Hone. 


Statue  of  Memnon. 

This  celebrated  statue  was  situated  at  Thebes,  and  was 
either  injured  by  Cambyses,  to  whom  the  Egyptian  priests 
ascribed  most  of  the  mutilations  of  the  Theban  temples,  or 
else  thrown  down  by  an  earthquake.  The  peculiar  charac- 
teristic of  the  statue  was  its  giving  out  at  various  times  a 
sound  resembling  the  breaking  of  a  harp-string  or  a  metallic 
ring.  Considerable  difference  has  prevailed  as  to  the  reason 
of  this  sound,  which  has  been  heard  in  modern  times,  it  being 
ascribed  to  the  artifice  of  the  priests,  who  struck  the  sonorous 
stone  of  which  the  statue  is  composed — to  the  passage  of  light 
draughts  of  air  through  the  cracks,  or  the  sudden  expansion  of 
aqueous  particles,  under  the  influence  of  the  sun's  rays.  This 


104 

remarkable  quality  of  the  statue  is  first  mentioned  by  Strabo, 
who  visited  it  about  18  B.  C.,  and  upwards  of  one  hundred 
inscriptions  of  Greek  and  Roman  visitors,  incised  upon  its 
legs,  record  the  visits  of  ancient  travelers  to  witness  the  phe- 
nomenon, from  the  ninth  year  of  Nero,  63  A.  D.,  to  the  reign 
of  the  Emperor  Severus,  when  it  became  silent. 


The  Head  of  Orpheus. 

Whether  the  head  of  Orpheus  spoke  in  the  island  of  Les- 
bos, or,  what  is  more  probable,  the  answers  were  conveyed  to 
it  by  the  priests,  as  was  the  case  with  the  tripod  at  Delphi, 
cannot  with  certainty  be  determined.  That  the  imposter 
Alexander,  however,  caused  his  ^Esculapius  to  speak  in  this 
manner,  is  expressly  related  by  Lucian.  He  took,  says  that 
author,  instead  of  a  pipe,  the  gullet  of  a  crane,  and  trans- 
mitted the  voice  through  it  to  the  mouth  of  the  statue.  In 
the  fourth  century,  when  Bishop  Theophilus  broke  to  pieces 
the  statues  at  Alexandria,  he  found  some  which  were  hollow, 
and  placed  in  such  a  manner  against  a  wall  that  a  priest  could 
slip  unperceived  behind  them  and  speak  to  the  ignorant 
populace  through  their  mouths. 


Wonderful  Automata. 

Archytas,  of  Tarentum,  is  reported,  so  long  ago  as  400  B.  C., 
to  have  made  a  pigeon  that  could  fly.  The  most  perfect 
automaton  about  which  there  is  absolute  certainty,  was  one 
constructed  by  M.  Vaucanson,  exhibited  in  Paris  in  1738. 
It  represented  a  flute-player,  which  placed  its  lips  against  the 
instrument,  and  produced  the  notes  with  its  fingers  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  manner  as  a  human  being  does.  In  1741  M. 
Vaucanson  made  a  flageolet -player,  which  with  one  hand  beat 


105 

a  tambourine,  and  in  the  same  year  he  produced  a  duck. 
The  latter  was  an  ingenious  contrivance  ;  it  swam,  dived,  ate, 
drank,  dressed  its  wings,  etc.,  as  naturally  as  its  live  com' 
panions;  and,  most  wonderful  of  all,  by  means  of  a  solution 
in  the  stomach,  it  was  actually  made  to  digest  its  food.  An 
automaton  made  by  M.  Droz  drew  likenesses  of  public  char- 
acters. Some  years  ago  a  Mr.  Faber  contrived  a  figure  which 
was  able  to  articulate  words  and  sentences  very  intelligibly, 
but  the  effect  was  not  pleasant.  The  chess-player  of  Kempe- 
len  was  long  regarded  as  the  most  wonderful  of  automata. 
It  represented  a  Turk  of  natural  size,  dressed  in  the  national 
costume,  and  seated  behind  a  box  resembling  a  chest  of 
drawers  in  shape.  Before  the  game  commenced,  the  artist 
opened  several  doors  in  the  chest,  which  revealed  a  large 
number  of  pulleys,  wheels,  cylinders,  springs,  etc.  The  chess- 
men were  produced  from  a  long  drawer,  as  was  also  a  cushion 
for  the  figure  to  rest  its  arm  upon.  The  automaton .  not  being 
able  to  speak,  signified,  when  the  queen  of  his  antagonist  was 
in  danger,  by  two  nods,  and  when  the  king  was  in  check  by 
three.  It  succeeded  in  beating  most  of  the  players  with  whom 
it  engaged,  but  it  turned  out  afterwards  that  a  crippled  Rus- 
sian officer — a  very  celebrated  chess-player — was  concealed  in 
the  interior  of  the  figure.  The  figure  is  said  to  have  been 
constructed  for  the  purpose  of  effecting  the  officer's  escape 
out  of  Russia,  where  his  life  was  forfeited.  So  far  as  the 
mental  process  was  concerned,  the  chess-player  was  not, 
therefore,  an  automaton,  but  great  ingenuity  was  evinced  in 
its  movement  of  the  pieces. 

Temple  of  the  Sun. 

The  Temple  of  the  Sun  at  Cuzco,  called  Coricancha,  or 
"Place  of  Gold,"  was  the  most  magnificent  edifice  in  the 
Persian  empire.  On  the  western  wall,  and  opposite  the  eastern 


106 

portal,  was  a  splendid  representation  of  the  Sun,  the  god  of 
the  nation.  It  consisted  of  a  human  face  in  gold,  with 
innumerable  golden  rays  emanating  from  it  in  every  direction1, 
and  when  the  early  beams  of  the  morning  sun  fell  upon  this 
brilliant  golden  disc,  they  were  reflected  from  it  as  from  a 
mirror,  and  again  reflected  throughout  the  whole  temple  by 
the  numberless  plates,  cornices,  bands  and  images  of  gold, 
until  the  temple  seemed  to  glow  with  a  sunshine  more  intense 
than  that  of  nature. 

Tomb  of  Darius. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  tombs  of  the  ancients  was  that 
carved  out  of  rock,  by  order  of  Darius,  for  the  reception  of  his 
own  remains,  and  which  exists  to  this  day  at  Persepolis,  after 
a  duration  of  twenty-three  centuries. 

The  portico  is  supported  by  four  columns  twenty  feet  in 
height,  and  in  the  centre  is  the  form  of  a  doorway,  seemingly 
the  entrance  to  the  interior,  but  it  is  solid  j  the  entablature  is 
of  chaste  design.  Above  the  portico  there  is  what  may  be 
termed  an  ark,  supported  by  two  rows  of  figures,  about  the 
size  of  life,  bearing  it  on  their  uplifted  hands,  and  at  each 
angle  a  griffin — an  ornament  which  is  very  frequent  at  Per- 
sepolis. On  this  stage  stands  the  king,  with  a  bent  bow  in  his 
hand,  worshipping  the  sun,  the  image  of  which  is  seen  above 
the  altar  that  stands  before  him,  while  above  his  head  hovers 
his  ferouher,  or  disembodied  spirit.  This  is  the  good  genius 
that  in  Persian  and  Ninevite  sculpture  accompanies  the  king 
when  performing  any  important  act.  On  each  side  of  the 
ark  are  nine  niches,  each  containing  a  statue  in  bas-relief.  No 
other  portion  of  the  tomb  was  intended  to  be  seen,  excepting 
the  sculptured  front;  and  we  must,  therefore,  conclude  that 
the  entrance  was  kept  secret,  and  that  the  avenues  were  by 
subterranean  passages,  so  constructed  that  none  but  the  privi- 


10? 

ledged  could  find  the  way.  We  are  told  by  Theophrastus 
that  Darius  was  buried  in  a  coffer  of  Egyptian  alabaster;  also 
that  the  early  Persians  preserved  the  bodies  of  their  dead  in 
honey  or  wax. 

Temples  the  First  Museums. 

Natural  objects  of  uncommon  size  or  beauty  were,  in  the 
earliest  periods,  consecrated  to  the  gods,  and  conveyed  to  the 
temples,  to  awaken  curiosity  and  to  excite  reverence.  In  the 
course  of  time  the  natural  curiosities  dedicated  to  the  gods 
formed  large  collections.  When  Hanno  returned  from  his 
distant  voyages,  he  brought  with  him  to  Carthage  two  skins 
of  the  hairy  women  whom  he  found  on  the  Gorgades  Islands, 
and  deposited  them  in  the  temple  of  Juno.  The  monstrous 
horns  of  the  wild  bulls  which  had  occasioned  so  much  devasta- 
tion in  Macedonia  were,  by  order  of  King  Philip,  hung  up  in 
the  temple  of  Hercules.  The  unnaturally  formed  shoulder- 
bones  of  Pelopos  were  deposited  in  the  temple  of  Elis.  The 
crocodile,  found  in  attempting  to  discover  the  sources  of  the 
Nile,  was  preserved  in  the  temple  of  Isis,  at  Czesarea.  The 
head  of  a  basilisk  was  exhibited  in  one  of  the  temples  of  Diana, 
and  in  the  time  of  Pausanias  the  head  of  the  celebrated  Caly- 
donian  boar  was  to  be  seen  in  one  of  the  temples  of  Greece. 


Wesley's  Plate. 

An  order  was  made  in  the  House  of  Lords,  in  May,  1776, 
"that  the  commissioners  of  his  majesty's  excise  do  write  circu- 
lar letters  to  all  such  persons  whom  they  have  reason  to  sus- 
pect to  have//«/^,  as  also  to  those  who  have  not  paid  regularly 
the  duty  on  the  same."  In  consequence  of  this  order,  the 
accountant-general  for  household  plate  sent  to  the  celebrated 


108 

John  Wesley  a  copy  of  the  order.      The  reply  was  a  laconic;, 
one — 

"SiR:  I  have  two  silver  teaspoons  in  London  and  two  at 
Bristol.     This  is  all  the  plate  which  I  have  at  present ;  and  I 
shall  not  buy  any  more  while  so  many  round  me  want  bread. 
"I  am,  sir, 

Your  most  humble  servant, 

JOHN  WESLEY." 

Grace  Knives. 

There  is  in  existence  a  curious  class  of  knives,  of  the  six- 
teenth century,  the  blades  of  which  have  on  one  side  the  musi- 
cal notes  to  the  benediction  of  the  table,  or  grace  before  meat, 
and  on  the  other  side  the  grace  after  meat.  The  set  of  these 
knives  usually  consisted  of  four.  They  were  kept  in  an  upright 
case  of  stamped  leather,  and  were  placed  before  the  singer. 

Religious  Relics. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  seventeenth  century  there  was 
a  crucifix  belonging  to  the  Augustine  friars,  at  Burgos,  in  Spain, 
which  produced  a  revenue  of  nearly  seven  thousand  crowns 
per  annum.  It  was  found  upon  the  sea,  not  far  from  the  coast, 
with  a  scroll  of  parchment  appended  to  it  descriptive  of  the 
various  virtues  it  possessed.  The  image  was  provided  with  a 
false  beard  and  a  chestnut-colored  periwig,  which  its  holy 
guardjans  declared  were  natural,  and  they  also  assured  all 
pious  visitors  that  on  every  Friday  it  sweated  blood  and  water 
into  a  silver  basin.  In  the  garden  of  this  convent  grew  a 
species  of  wheat,  the  grain  of  which  was  unusually  large,  and 
which  its  possessors  averred  was  brought  by  Adam  out  of  Para- 
dise. Cakes,  for  the  cure  of  all  diseases,  were  made  out  of 
the  wheat  kneaded  with  the  aforesaid  blood  and  water,  and 


109 


sold  to  the  credulous  multitude  for  a  quartillo  each.  They 
also  sold  blue  ribbons,  of  the  exact  length  of  the  crucifix,  for 
about  a  shilling  each.  The  ribbons  were  a  sovereign  cure  for 
headache,  and  had  upon  them,  in  silver  letters,  "La  madi  del 
santo  crucifisco  de  Burgos." 

Mammoth  Bottle. 

In  January,  1751,  a  globular  bottle  was  blown  at  Leith 
capable  of  holding  two  hogsheads.  Its  dimensions  were  forty 
inches  by  forty-two.  This  immense  vessel  was  the  largest 
ever  produced  at  any  glass-works. — Hone 


A  Drinking  Glass  a   Yard  Long. 

"On  the  proclamation  of  James  II.,  in  the  market  place  of 
Bromley,  by  the  Sheriff  of  Kent,  the  commander  of  the 
Kentish  troop,  two  of  the  king's  trumpets,  and  other  officers, 
they  drank  the  king's  health  in  a  flint  glass  a  yard  long." — 
Evelyn's  Diary,  Feb.  loth,  1685. 


Kneeling  Statue  of  Atlas. 

In  the  Museo  Borbonico,  at  Naples,  is  a  kneeling  statue  of 
Atlas  sustaining  the  globe.  It  is  a  very  interesting  monu- 
ment of  Roman  art,  and  one  of  great  value  to  the  student  of 
ancient  astronomy.  Of  the  forty-seven  constellations  known 
to  the  ancients,  forty-two  maybe  distinctly  recognized.  The 
date  of  this  curious  sculpture  is  fixed  as  anterior  to  the  time 
of  Hadrian  by  the  absence  of  the  likeness  of  Antinous,  which 
was  inserted  in  the  constellation  Aquila  by  the  astronomers  of 
that  period. 


The  Druid's  Seat. 

The  "Druid's  Judgment  Seat"  stands  near  the  village  of 
Killiney,  not  far  from  Drogheda,  near  the  Martello  tower. 
It  was  formerly  enclosed  with  a  circle  of  large  stones  and  a 
ditch.  The  former  has  been  destroyed,  and  the  latter  so 
altered  that  little  of  its  ancient  character  remains.  The 
"Seat"  is  composed  of  large,  rough  granite  blocks,  and  if 
really  of  the  period  to  which  tradition  credits  it,  an  unusual 
degree  of  care  must  have  been  exercised  in  its  preservation. 
The  following  are  its  measurements:  Breadth  at  the  base, 
eleven  feet  and  a  half;  depth  of  the  seat,  one  foot  nine  inches; 
extreme  height,  seven  feet. 


Curious  Epitaphs. 

Praises  on  tombs  are  trifles  vainly  spent ; 
A  man's  good  name  is  his  best  monument. 

From  Childwald  church-yard,  England — 

Here  lies  me  and  my  three  daughters, 

Brought  here  by  using  seidlitz  waters; 

If  we  had  stuck  to  Epsom  salts, 

We  would  n't  have  been  in  these  here  vaults 

From  Nettlebed  church-yard,  Oxfordshire — 

Here  lies  father,  and  mother,  and  sister,  and  I, 
We  all  died  within  the  space  of  one  short  year ; 

They  all  be  buried  at  Wimble,  except  I, 
And  I  be  buried  here. 

At  Wolstanton — 

Mrs.  Ann  Jennings. 
Some  have  children,  some  have  none : 
Here  lies  the  mother  of  twenty-one. 


Ill 


In  Norwich  Cathedral- 


Here  lies  the  body  of  honest  Tom  Page, 
Who  died  in  the  thirty-third  year  of  his  age. 

At  Torrington  church-yard,  Devon,  England — 

She  was — but  words  are  wanting  to  say  what : 
Think  what  a  woman  should  be — she  was  that. 

In  the  church-yard  of  Pewsey,  Wiltshire — 

Here  lies  the  body  of  Lady  O'Looney,  great-niece  of  Burke,  commonly 
called  the  Sublime.  She  was  bland,  passionate  and  deeply  religious; 
also  she  painted  in  water-colors,  and  sent  several  pictures  to  the  exhibitioa 
She  was  first  cousin  to  Lady  Jones ;  and  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

Shields  (the  Irish  orator) — 

Here  lie  I  at  reckon,  and  my  spirit  at  aise  is, 

With  the  tip  of  my  nose,  and  the  ends  of  my  toes, 
Turned  up  'gaimt  the  roots  of  the  daisies. 

In  Doncaster  church-yard,  1816 — 

Here  lies  2  brothers  by  misfortin  serounded, 

One  dy'd  of  his  wounds  &  the  other  was  drownded. 

On  the  monument  of  John  of  Doncaster — 

What  I  gave,  I  have; 
What  I  spent,  I  had ; 
What  I  saved,  I  lost. 

In  a  New  England  grave-yard — 

Here  lies  John  Auricular, 

Who  in  the  ways  of  the  Lord  walked  perpendicular 

Sternhold  Oakes — 

Here  lies  the  body  of  Sternhold  Oakes, 
Who  lived  and  died  like  other  folks. 


112 


On  a  tombstone  in  New  Jersey — 

Reader,  pass  on !  don't  waste  your  time 
On  bad  biography  and  bitter  rhyme ; 
For  what  I  am,  this  crumbling  clay  insures, 
And  what  I  was,  is  no  affair  of  yours  1 

In  East  Hartford,  Connecticut — 

Hark !  she  bids  all  her  friends  adieu; 

An  angel  calls  her  to  the  spheres  ; 
Our  eyes  the  radiant  saint  pursue 

Through  liquid  telescopes  of  tears. 

In  Newington  church-yard — 

Through  Christ,  I  am  not  inferior 
To  William  the  Conqueror. 

In  Bideford  church-yard,  Kent — 

The  wedding-day  appointed  was, 
And  wedding-clothes  provided, 

But  ere  the  day  did  come,  alas  ! 
He  sickened,  and  he  die  did. 

Rebecca  Rogers,  Folkestone,  1688 — 

A  house  she  hath,  't  is  made  of  such  good  fashion. 
The  tenant  ne'er  shall  pay  for  reparation; 
Nor  will  her  landlord  ever  raise  her  rent, 
Or  turn  her  out  of  doors  for  non-payment. 
From  chimney -tax  this  cell 's  forever  free- 
To  such  a  house  who  would  not  tenant  be  ? 

At  Augusta,  Maine- — 

—  After  life's  scarlet  fever, 
I  s>»tep  well. 


John  Mound — 


Here  lies  the  body  of  John  Mound, 
Lost  at  sea  and  never  found. 


113 
POETRY,  PIETY  AND  POLITENESS. 

The  following  epitaph  was  copied  from  a  stone  in  a  country 
church-yard — 

"  You  who  stand  around  my  grave, 

And  say,  '  His  life  is  gone ;' 
You  are  mistaken — pardon 
My  life  is  but  begun." 


At  Loch  Rausa — 


Here  lies  Donald  and  his  wife, 
Janet  MacFee : 
Aged  40  hee, 
And  30  shee. 

On  Mr.  Bywater — 

Here  lie  the  remains  of  his  relatives'  pride, 
Bywater  he  lived  and  by  water  he  died ; 
Though  by  water  he  fell,  yet  by  water  he  '11  rise, 
By  water  baptismal  attaining  the  skies. 

At  Staverton,  England — 

Here  lieth  the  body  of  Betty  Bowden, 
Who  would  live  longer  but  she  couden ; 
Sorrow  and  grief  made  her  decay, 
Till  her  bad  leg  carr'd  her  away. 

At  Penryn — 

Here  lies  William  Smith;  and,  what  is  somewhat  rarish, 
He  was  born,  bred  and  hanged  in  this  here  parish. 

From  St.  Agnes',  London — 

Qu  an  tris  di  c  vul  stra 

Os  guis  ti  ro  um  nere  vit. 
H  san  Chris  mi  t  mu  la. 


114 

In  Linton  church-yard,  1825 — 

Remember  man,  that  passeth  by, 
As  them  is  now  so  once  was  I ; 
And  as  I  is  so  must  thou  be : 
Prepare  thyself  to  follow  me. 

Under  this  inscription  some  one  wrote-1— 

To  follow  you's  not  my  intent, 
Unless  I  knew  which  way  you  went. 

At  Queenborough — 

Henry  Knight,  master  of  a  shipp  to  Greenland,  and 

Herpooner  24  voyages. 

In  Greenland  I  whales,  sea-horses,  bears  did  slay, 
Though  now  my  body  is  intombe  in  clay. 

At  Minster — 

Here  interr'd  George  Anderson  doth  lye, 
By  fallen  on  an  anchor  he  did  dye, 
In  Sheerness  Yard,  on  Good  Friday, 
Ye  6th  of  April,  I  do  say, 
All  you  that  read  my  allegy  :  Be  alwaies 
Ready  for  to  dye— aged  42  years. 

At  Hadley  church-yard,  Suffolk — 

The  charnel  mounted  on  the  w 
Sets  to  be  seen  in  funer 
A  matron  plain  domestic 
In  care  and  pain  continu 
Not  slow,  not  gay,  not  prodig 
Yet  neighborly  and  hospit 
Her  children  seven,  yet  living 
Her  sixty-seventh  year  hence  did  c 
To  rest  her  body  natur 
In  hopes  to  rise  spiritu 


ALL. 


U5 

The  middle  line  furnishes  the  terminal  letters  or  syllables 
of  the  words  in  the  upper  and  lower  lines,  and  when  added 
they  read  thus — 

Quos  anguis  tristi  diro  cum  vulnere  stravit, 
Hos  sanguis  Christi  miro  turn  munere  lavit. 
[Those  who  have  felt  the  serpent's  venomed  wound, 
In  Christ's  miraculous  blood  have  healing  found.] 


In  a  Paris  cemetery — 

I'  attends  ma  femme. 
1820. 


Me  voila. 
1830. 

Shakespeare's  tomb — 


I  await  my  wife. 
1820. 

I  am  here. 
1830. 


The  inscription  on  Shakespeare's  tomb  forbids  the  removal 
of  the  body.  Subjoined  is  the  prohibition — 

"  Good  Friend,  for  Jesvs  sake  forbeare 
To  digg  Y-E  dvst  EncloAsed  HERE. 
Blest  be  Y-E  Man  T-Y  spares  T-hs  Stones 
And  cvrst  be  He  T-Y  moves  my  bones." 

In  consequence  of  this  inscription,  the  people  of  Stratford- 
on-Avon  are  afraid  to  put  their  feet  on  the  stones  above  the 
grave,  and  the  body  of  the  greatest  English  poet  has  not  been 
placed  with  other  geniuses  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

Stone  tablet  puzzle — 

The  following  letters  are  inscribed  on  a  stone  tablet  placed 
immediately  over  the  Ten  Commandments  in  a  church  in 
England,  and  are  deciphered  with  only  one  letter — 

PRSVR  Y  PRFCT  MN! 
VR  KP  THS  PRCPTS  TN. 


116 

Grimmingham  church-yard,  Norfolk,  England — 

To  the  memory  of  Thomas  Jackson,  Comedian,  who  was 
tngaged,  2ist  of  Dec.,  1741,  to  play  a  comic  cast  of  characters , 
in  this  great  theatre — the  World :  for  many  of  which  he  was 
prompted 'by  nature  to  excel. 

The  season  being  ended,  his  benefit  over,  the  charges  all 
paid,  and  his  account  closed,  he  made  his  exit  in  the  tragedy 
of  Death,  on  the  iyth  of  March,  1798,  in  full  assurance  of 
being  called  once  more  to  rehearsal;  where  he  hopes  to  find 
his  forfeits  all  cleared,  his  cast  of  parts  bettered,  and  his  situa- 
tion made  agreeable  by  Him  who  paid  the  great  stock-debt, 
for  the  love  which  he  bore  to  performers  in  general. 

An  inculpatory  epitaph — 

The  following  epitaph  at  West  Allington,  Devon,  England, 
is  not  only  a  memorial  of  the  deceased,  but  reproves  the  par- 
son of  the  parish — 

Here  lyeth  the  Body  of 

Daniel  Jeffery  the  son  of  Micb 

ael  Jeffery  and  Joan  his  wife  he 

was  buried  ye  22  day  of  September 

1746  and  in  ye  i8th  year  of  his  age. 
This  Youth  When  In  his  sickness  lay 
did  for  the  minister  Send-J-that  he  would 
Come  and  with  him  Pray-f-But  he  would  not  ateni 
But  when  this  Young  Man  Buried  was 
The  minister  did  him  admit  ^-he  should  be 
Caried  into  Church-j-that  he  might  money  geet 
By  this  you  see  what  man  will  dwo+to  geet 
money  if  he  can+who  did  refuse  to  come 
pray+by  the  Foresaid  young  man. 

At  St.  Benedict  Fink— 

"1673,  April  23rd,  was  buried  Mr-  Thomas  Sharrow,  Cloth- 
worker,  late  Churchwarden  of  this  parish,  killed  by  an  acci- 


in 

dental  fall  into  a  vault,  in  London  Wall,  men  Corner,  by 
Paternoster  Row,  and  was  supposed  had  lain  there  eleven 
days  and  nights  before  any  one  could  tell  where  he  was.  Let 
all  that  read  this  take  heed  of  drink" 

At  Clophill,  Bedfordshire— 

DEATH  DO  NOT  KICK  AT  MEE 

FOR  CHRIST  HATH  TAKEN 

THY  STING  AWAY. 

1623. 
In  the  same — 

HEAR 

LIES  THE 

BODEY    OF 

THOMAS 

DEARMAN  T 

HAT  GAVE  6  P 

OVND  A  YEAR 

TO  TH  E  LABE 

RERS  O  F  CLOPH 

ILL  1631. 

A  watchmaker's  epitaph — 

Among  the  curious  epitaphs  to  be  seen  in  the  graveyards  of 
England,  this  one  in  the  old  church-yard  of  Lidford,  Devon, 
is  worthy  of  insertion — 

Here  lies,  in  a  horizontal  position, 

The  outside  case  of 

George  Rougleigh,  watchmaker, 

Whose  abilities  in  that  line  were  an  honor 

To  his  profession. 

Integrity  was  the  mainspring 

And  prudence  the  regulator 

Of  all  the  actions  of  his  life. 

Humane,  generous  and  liberal, 

His  hand  never  stopped 
Till  he  had  relieved  distress ; 


118 

So  nicely  were  all  his  actions  regulated 
That  he  never  went  wrong 
Except  when  set  a-going 

By  people 

Who  did  not  know  his  key ; 
Even  then  he  was  easily  set  aright  again. 
He  had  the  art  of  disposing  his  time  so  well 
That  his  hours  glided  away 
In  one  continual  round 
Of  pleasure  and  delight, 
Till  an  unlucky  minute  put  a  period  to 

his  existence. 

He  departed  this  life  November  14,  1802, 

Aged  57; 

Wound  up 

In  hopes  of  being  taken  in  hand 

By  his  Maker, 
And  of  being  thoroughly  cleaned  and  repaired 

And  set  a-going 
In  the  world  to  come. 

Grave  of  Robin  Hood — 

At  Kirklees,  in  Yorkshire,  formerly  a  Benedictine  nunnery, 
is  a  gravestone,  near  the  park,  under  which  it  is  said  Robin 
Hood  lies  buried.  Mr.  Ralph  Thoresby,  in  his  "Ducatus 
Leodiensis,"  gives  the  following  as  the  epitaph — 

Here  undernead  dis  laith  stean 
Laiz  Robert  Earl  of  Huntington, 
Nea  arcir  ver  az  hie  sa  geude : 
An  piple  kaud  im  Robin  Heud 
Sic  utlawz  as  hi,  an  iz  men, 
Wil  England  never  sigh  agen. 

Obiit  24  kal.  Dekembris,  1247. 

Great  Tom  of  Lincoln. 

The  finest  bell  in  England  was  the  Great  Tom  of  Lincoln, 
considerably  older  than  St.  Paul's.  Its  elevation  gave  it  an 


119 

horizon  of  fifty  miles  in  every  direction.  Its  note  was  like 
the  chord  of  A  upon  a  full  organ.  It  fell  from  its  support 
and  was  destroyed. 

Mammoth  Bell  of  Buddah. 

Klaprath  states  that  in  an  edifice  before  the  great  temple  of 
Buddah,  at  Jeddo,  is  the  largest  bell  in  the  world.  It  weighs 
1,700,000  pounds,  four  times  greater  than  the  great  bell  of 
Moscow,  and  fifty-six  times  larger  than  the  great  bell  of  West- 
minister, England. 

Great  Bell  of  Rouen. 

The  grand  entrance  to  the  cathedral  of  Rouen  is  flanked  by 
two  towers;  the  one  was  erected  by  St.  Remain;  the  expense 
of  constructing  the  other,  which  bears  the  whimsical  name  of 
Tour-de-beurre,  was  raised  by  the  sum  received  for  granting 
the  more  wealthy  and  epicurean  inhabitants  of  the  city  per- 
mission to  eat  butter  during  Lent.  It  was  in  this  tower  that 
the  celebrated  bell  was  erected;  it  was  named  George 
D'Amboise,  after  its  founder,  who  died  from  joy  upon  seeing 
it  completed.  It  weighed  40,000  pounds,  and  was  melted 
into  cannon  in  the  year  1 793. 

St.  Milan's  Bell. 

In  Sinclair's  "Statistical  Account  of  Scotland,"  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Patrick  Stuart,  minister  of  Killin  parish,  Perthshire,  says : 
"There  is  a  bell  belonging  to  the  chapel  of  St.  Fillan  that 
was  in  high  reputation  among  the  votaries  of  that  saint  in  old 
times.  It  is  a  foot  high, 'oblong  in  form,  and  made  of  mixed 
metal.  It  usually  lay  on  a  grave-stone  in  the  church-yard. 
When  mad  people  were  brought  to  be  dipped  in  the  saint's 


120 

pool,  it  was  necessary  to  perform  certain  ceremonies  in  which 
there  was  a  mixture  of  druidism  and  popery.  After  remain- 
ing all  night  in  the  chapel,  bound  with  ropes,  the  bell  was  set 
upon  their  head  with  great  solemnity.  It  was  also  the  popu- 
lar opinion  that  if  the  bell  was  ever  stolen,  it  would  extricate 
itself  out  of  the  thief  s  hands  and  return  home,  ringing  all  the 
way. ' ' 

The  Bells  of  Jersey. 

The  following  is  the  bell-legend  connected  with  Jersey: 
"Many  years  ago  the  twelve  parish  churches  in  that  island 
possessed  each  a  valuable  peal  of  bells;  but  during  a  long 
civil  war  the  government  determined  to  sell  the  bells  to  defray 
the  expenses  of  the  troops.  The  bells  were  accordingly  col- 
lected and  sent  to  France  for  that  purpose ;  but  on  the  pass- 
age, the  ship  foundered,  and  everything  was  lost,  to  show  the 
wrath  of  Heaven  at  such  a  sacrilege.  Since  then,  during  a 
storm,  these  bells  always  ring  from  the  deep,  and  to  this  day 
the  fishermen  of  St.  Owen's  Bay  always  go  to  the  edge  of  the 
water  before  embarking,  to  listen  if  they  can  hear  the  bells 
upon  the  wind.  If  so,  nothing  will  induce  them  to  leave  the 
shore;  if  all  is  quiet,  they  fearlessly  set  sail." 


Subterranean  Christmas  Bells. 

Near  Raleigh,  in  Nottinghamshire,  there  is  a  valley,  said  to 
have  been  caused  by  an  earthquake  several  hundred  years  ago, 
which  swallowed  up  a  whole  village,  together  with  the  church. 
Formerly,  it  was  a  custom  for  people  to  assemble  in  this  val- 
ley on  Christmas  morning,  to  listen  to  the  ringing  of  the  bells 
of  the  church  beneath  them.  This  it  was  positively  asserted 
might  be  heard  by  putting  the  ear  to  the  ground  and  harkening 
attentively.  Even  now,  it  is  usual  on  Christmas  morning  for 


121 

old  men  and  women  to  tell  the  children  to  go  to  the  valley, 
stoop  down,  and  hear  the  bells  ringing  merrily. — Hone,  1827. 

St.  Sepulchre's  Bell. 

It  has  been  a  very  ancient  practice,  on  the  night  preceding 
the  execution  of  condemned  criminals,  for  the  bellman  of  the 
parish  of  St.  Sepulchre  to  go  under  Newgate,  and,  ringing 
his  bell,  to  repeat  the  following,  as  a  piece  of  friendly  advice 
to  the  unhappy  wretches  under  sentence  of  death:  — 

All  you  that  in  the  condemn' d  hold  do  lie, 
Prepare  you,  for  to-morrow  you  shall  die; 
Watch  all,  and  pray,  the  hour  is  drawing  near. 
That  you  before  the  Almighty  must  appear; 
Examine  well  yourselves,  in  time  repent, 
That  you  may  not  to  eternal  flames  be  sent. 
And  when  St.  Sepulchre's  bell  to-morrow  tolls. 
The  Lord  above  have  mercy  on  your  souls ! 
Past  twelve  o'clock' 

The  Passing  Bell. 

The  Passing  Bell  was  so  named  from  being  tolled  when  any 
one  was  passing  from  life.  Hence  it  was  sometimes  called 
the  Soul  Sell,  and  was  rung  that  those  who  heard  it  might 
pray  for  the  person  dying,  and  who  was  not  yet  dead.  We 
have  a  remarkable  mention  of  the  practice  in  the  narrative  of 
the  last  moments  of  the  Lady  Katharine  Grey  (sister  of  Lady 
Jane  Grey),  who  died  a  prisoner  in  the  Tower  of  London,  in 
1567.  Sir  Owen  Hopton,  constable  of  the  tower,  "perceiv- 
ing her  to  draw  toward  her  end,  said  to  Mr.  Bockeham, 
( Were  it  not  best  to  send  to  the  church,  that  the  bell  may  be 
rung?'  and  she  herself,  hearing  him,  said  :  '  Good  Sir  Owen, 
be  it  so;'  and  almost  immediately  died." — Ellis' s  Original 
Letters. 


122 


Bell-ringing  in  Holland. 

The  Hollanders  exhibit  the  most  enthusiastic  fondness  for 
bells.  Every  church  and  public  building  is  hung  round  with 
them  in  endless  variety.  In  Amsterdam  not  less  than  a 
thousand  bells  are  kept  constantly  ringing,  which  creates  a 
din  that  is  almost  intolerable  to  strangers. 


Babes  of  Bethlehem. 

It  is  an  ancient  custom  at  Norton,  Worcestershire,  England, 
on  the  28th  of  December  (Innocents'  Day)  to  ring  a  muffled 
peal  in  token  of  sorrow  for  the  slaughter  of  the  hapless 
"babes  of  Bethlehem,"  and,  immediately  afterwards,  an  un- 
muffled  peal,  in  manifestation  of  joy  for  the  deliverance  and 
escape  of  the  infant  Saviour. 


Ringing  the  Changes. 

It  is  curious  to  note  the  number  of  changes  which  may  be 
rung  on  different  peals.  The  changes  on  seven  bells  are 
5040;  on  twelve,  479,001,600,  which  it  would  take  ninety- 
one  years  to  ring,  at  the  rate  of  two  strokes  in  a  second. 
The  changes  on  fourteen  bells  could  not  be  rung  through  at 
the  same  rate  in  less  than  16,575  years,  and  upon  four-and- 
twenty  they  would  require  more  than  117,000  billions  of 
years. — E.  F.  King. 


Bell  Inscriptions. 

Epigraphs  or  legends  on  bells  were  quite  common  in  Eng- 
land.    We  subjoin  specimens — 


123 

On  the  Six  Bells  of  the  Ancient  Abbey  of  Hcxham. 

Even  at  our  earliest  sound, 

The  light  of  God  is  spread  around. 

At  the  echo  of  my  voice, 
Ocean,  earth  and  air  rejoice. 

Blend  thy  mellow  tones  with  mine, 
Silver  voice  of  Catherine  ! 

Till  time  on  ruin's  lap  shall  nod, 
John  shall  sound  the  praise  of  God. 

With  John  in  heavenly  harmony, 
Andrew,  pour  thy  melody. 

Be  mine  to  chant  Jehovah's  fame, 
While  Maria  is  my  name. 

A  not  uncommon  epigraph  is — 

Come  when  I  call, 
To  serve  God  all. 

At  Aldbourne,  on  the  first  bell,  we  read :  "  The  gift  of 
Jos.  Pizzie  and  Wm.  Gwynn. 

Music  and  ringing  we  like  so  well, 
And  for  that  reason  we  gave  this  bell." 

On  the  fourth  bell  is — 

Humphry  Symsin  gave  xx  pounds  to  buy  this  bell, 
And  the  parish  gave  xx  more  to  make  this  ring  go  well. 

At  Broadchalk — 

I  in  this  place  am  second  bell, 
I  '11  surely  do  my  part  as  welL 

At  Coin,  on  the  third  bell — 

Robert  Forman  collected  the  money  for  casting  this  bell 
Of  well-disposed  people,  as  I  do  you  tell. 


124 


At  Devizes,  St.  Mary — 


I  am  the  first,  altho'  but  small, 
I  will  be  heard  above  you  all. 

I  am  the  second  in  this  ring ; 
Therefore  next  to  thee  I  will  sing. 


Amesbury,  on  the  fifth  bell — 


Be  strong  in  faith,  praise  God  well, 
Frances  Countess  Hertford's  bell. 


Amesbury,  on  the  tenor  bell- 


Altho'  it  be  unto  my  loss, 

I  hope  you  will  consider  my  cost. 


At  Bath  Abbey- 


All  you  of  Bath  that  hear  my  sound, 
Thank  Lady  Hopton's  hundred  pound. 


At  Stowe,  Northamptonshire — 


Be  it  known  to  all  that  doth  me  see, 
That  Newcombe,  of  Leicester,  made  me. 


At  St.  Michael's,  Coventry — 

I  ring  at  six  to  let  men  know 
When  to  and  from  their  work  to  go. 

On  the  seventh  bell  is — 

I  ring  to  sermon  with  lusty  borne, 

That  all  may  come,  and  none  can  stay  at  home. 

At   St.   Peter-le-Bailey,   Oxford,   in   expectation  of   other 
bells  which  were  never  purchased — 

With  seven  more  I  hope  soon  to  be 
For  ages  joined  in  harmony. 


125 


On  the  eighth  bell  is — 


I  am  and  have  been  called  the  common  bell, 
To  ring  when  fire  breaks  out  to  tell. 

St.  Helen's  church,  at  Worcester,  England,  has  a  set  of 
bells  cast  in  the  time  of  Queen  Anne,  with  names  and  inscrip- 
tions recording  victories  gained  in  that  reign — 

i.  BLENHEIM. 

First  is  my  note,  and  Blenheim  is  my  name; 
For  Blenheim's  story  will  be  first  in  fame. 

2.  BARCELONA. 

Let  me  relate  how  Louis  did  bemoan 

His  grandson  Philip's  flight  from  Barcelon. 

3.  RAMILIES. 

Deluged  in  blood,  I,  Ramilies,  advance 
Britannia's  glory  on  the  fall  of  France. 

4.  MENIN. 

Let  Menin  on  my  sides  engraven  be, 
And  Flanders  freed  from  Gallic  slavery. 

5.  TURIN. 

When  in  harmonious  peal  I  roundly  go, 
Think  on  Turin,  and  triumphs  on  the  Po. 

6.  EUGENE. 

With  joy  I  bear  illustrious  Eugene's  name; 
Fav'rite  of  fortune  and  the  boast  of  fame. 

7.  MARYBOROUGH. 

But  I  for  pride  the  greater  Marlborough  bear ; 
Terror  of  tyrants  and  the  soul  of  war. 

8.  QUEEN  ANNE. 

The  immortal  praise  of  Queen  Anne  I  sound, 
With  union  blest,  and  all  these  glories  crowned. 


126 

On  the  famous  alarm-bell  called  Roland,  in  a  belfry-tower 
in  the  once  powerful  city  of  Ghent,  is  engraved  the  subjoined 
inscription,  in  the  old  Walloon  or  Flemish  dialect— 

"  My  name  is  Roland ;  when  I  toll  there  is  fire, 
And  when  I  ring  there  is  victory  in  the  land." 

The  following  inscription,  remarkable  for  bad  taste,  is  on 
one  of  eight  bells  in  the  church  tower  of  Tilton,  Devon — 

"Recast  by  John  Taylor  and  Son, 
Who  the  best  prize  for  church  bells  won 
At  the  Great  Ex-hi-bi-ti-on 
In  London,  1-8-5  an^  I-" 


Articles  of  Ringing. 

The  following  "Articles  of  Ringing"  are  upon  the  walls 
of  the  belfry  in  Dunster,  Somersetshire,  England: — 

1.  You  that  in  ringing  take  delight, 

Be  pleased  to  draw  near ; 
These  articles  you  must  observe, 
If  you  mean  to  ring  here. 

2.  And  first,  if  any  overturn 

A  bell,  as  that  he  may, 
He  forthwith  for  that  only  fault 
In  beer  shall  sixpence  pay. 

3.  If  any  one  shall  curse  or  swear 

When  come  within  the  door, 
He  then  shall  forfeit  for  that  fault 
As  mentioned  before. 

4.  If  any  one  shall  wear  his  hat 

When  he  is  ringing  here, 
He  straightway  then  shall  sixpence  paj 
In  cyder  or  in  beer. 


12T 

5.  If  any  one  these  articles 

Refuseth  to  obey, 

Let  him  have  nine  strokes  of  the  rope, 
And  so  depart  away. 

Old  Weather  Rhymes. 

If  New  Year's  eve  night-wind  blow  south, 

It  betokeneth  warmth  and  growth ; 

If  west,  much  milk,  and  fish  in  the  sea ; 

If  north,  much  cold,  and  storms  there  will  be; 

If  east,  the  trees  will  bear  much  fruit ; 

If  north-east,  flee  it,  man  and  brute. 

If  St.  Paul's  day  be  fair  and  clear, 
It  does  betide  a  happy  year ; 
But  if  it  chance  to  snow  or  rain, 
Then  will  be  dear  all  kinds  of  grain ; 
If  clouds  or  mists  do  dark  the  skie, 
Great  store  of  birds  and  beasts  shall  die; 
And  if  the  winds  do  fly  aloft, 
Then  wars  shall  vex  the  kingdome  oft. 

A  swarm  of  bees  in  May 
Is  worth  a  load  of  hay; 
A  swarm  of  bees  in  June 
Is  worth  a  silver  spune ; 
A  swarm  of  bees  in  July 
Is  not  worth  a  fly. 

The  hind  had  as  lief  see  his  wife  on  the  bier, 

As  that  Candlemas-day  should  be  pleasant  and  clear, 

If  Candlemas-day  be  fair  and  bright, 
Winter  will  have  another  flight ; 
But  if  Candlemas-day  be  clouds  and  rain, 
Winter  is  gone,  and  will  not  come  again. 

When  Candlemas-day  is  come  and  gone, 
The  snow  lies  on  a  hot  stone. 

If  Candlemas  is  fair  and  clear, 
There  '11  be  twa  winters  in  the  year. 


128 

February  fill  dike,  be  it  black  or  be  it  white? 
But  if  it  be  white,  it's  the  better  to  like. 

When  the  cuckoo  comes  to  the  bare  thorn, 
Sell  your  cow  and  buy  your  corn ; 
But  when  she  comes  to  the  full  bit, 
Sell  your  corn  and  buy  your  sheep. 

If  the  cock  moult  before  the  hen, 
We  shall  have  weather  thick  and  thin  ; 
But  if  the  hen  moult  before  the  cock, 
We  shall  have  weather  hard  as  a  block. 

When  the  wind 's  in  the  south, 

It  blows  the  bait  into  the  fishes'  mouth. 

As  the  days  lengthen 
So  the  colds  strengthen. 

If  there  be  a  rainbow  in  the  eve, 

It  will  rain  and  leave ; 

But  if  there  be  a  rainbow  in  the  morrow, 

It  will  neither  lend  nor  borrow. 

A  rainbow  in  the  morning 
Is  the  shepherd's  warning; 
But  a  rainbow  at  night 
Is  the  shepherd's  delight. 

No  tempest,  good  July, 
Lest  corn  come  off  blue  by. 

When  the  wind 's  in  the  east, 
It 's  neither  good  for  man  nor  beast; 
When  the  wind's  in  the  south, 
It 's  in  the  rain's  mouth. 

When  the  sloe-tree  is  as  white  as  a  sheet, 
Sow  your  barley,  whether  it  be  dry  or  wet. 

No  weather  is  ill 
If  the  wind  be  still. 

A  snow  year, 
A  rich  year. 


129 

Winter's  thunder 
Is  summer's  wonder. 

St.  Swithin's  day,  if  thou  dost  rain, 
For  forty  days  it  will  remain ; 
St.  Swithin's  day,  if  thou  be  fair, 
For  forty  days  't  will  rain  na  mair. 

The  bat  begins  with  giddy  wing 

His  circuit  round  the  shed  and  tree; 

And  clouds  of  dancing  gnats  to  sing 
A  summer  night's  serenity. 

At  New  Year's  tide, 

The  days  are  lengthened  a  cock's  stride. 

If  the  red  sun  begins  his  race, 
Expect  that  rain  will  fall  apace. 

The  evening  red,  the  morning  gray, 
Are  certain  signs  of  a  fair  day. 

If  woolly  fleeces  spread  the  heavenly  way, 
No  rain,  be  sure,  disturbs  the  summer's  day. 

In  the  waning  of  the  moon, 
A  cloudy  morn — fair  afternoon. 

When  clouds  appear  like  rocks  and  towers, 
The  earth 's  refresh'd  by  frequent  showers. 

As  the  days  grow  longer 

The  storms  grow  stronger. 

Blessed  is  the  corpse  that  the  rain  falls  on. 

Blessed  is  the  bride  that  the  sun  shines  on. 

He  that  goes  to  see  his  wheat  in  May, 

Comes  weeping  away. 

Signs  of  Foul  Weather. 

The  soot  falls  down,  the  spaniels  sleep, 
And  spiders  from  their  cobwebs  peep. 
Loud  quack  the  ducks,  the  sea-fowl  cry, 
The  distant  hills  are  looking  nigh. 


ISO 

Puss  on  the  hearth,  with  velvet  paws. 
Sits  wiping  o'er  her  whisker' d  jaws. 

The  smoke  from  chimneys  right  ascends, 
Then  spreading,  back  to  earth  it  bends. 

The  walls  are  damp,  the  ditches  smell, 
Clos'd  is  the  pink-ey'd  pimpernel. 

Quite  restless  are  the  snorting  swine, 
The  busy  flies  disturb  the  kine. 

The  wind  unsteady  veers  around, 
Or  settling  in  the  south  is  found. 

The  glow-worms,  numerous  and  bright, 
Illumed  the  dewy  hill  last  night. 

Through  the  clear  stream  the  fishes  rise 
And  nimbly  catch  the  incautious  flies. 


First  Meerschaum  Pipe. 

In  1723  there  lived  in  Pesth,  the  capital  of  Hungary,  Karol 
Kowates,  a  shoemaker,  whose  ingenuity  in  cutting  and  carv- 
ing on  wood,  etc.,  brought  him  in  contact  with  Count  And- 
rassy,  ancestor  to  the  present  prime  minister  of  Austria,  with 
whom  he  became  a  favorite.  The  count,  on  his  return  from  a 
mission  to  Turkey,  brought  with  him  a  large  piece  of  whitish 
clay,  which  had  been  presented  to  him  as  a  curiosity  on 
account  of  its  extraordinary  light  specific  gravity.  It  struck 
the  shoemaker  that,  being  porous,  it  must  naturally  be  well 
adapted  for  pipes,  as  it  would  absorb  the  nicotine.  The 
experiment  was  tried,  and  Karol  cut  a  pipe  for  the  count  and 
one  for  himself.  But  in  the  pursuit  of  his  trade  he  could  not 
keep  his  hands  clean,  and  many  a  piece  of  wax  became 
attached  to  the  pipe.  The  clay,  however,  instead  of  assum- 
ing a  dirty  appearance,  as  was  naturally  to  be  expected,  when 
Karol  wiped  it  off,  received,  wherever  the  wax  had  touched,  a 


131 

clear  brown  polish,  instead  of  the  dull  white  it  previously  had. 
Attributing  this  change  in  the  tint  to  the  proper  source,  he 
waxed  the  whole  surface,  and,  polishing  the  pipe,  again  smoked 
it,  and  noticed  how  admirably  and  beautifully  it  colored; 
also,  how  much  more  sweet  the  pipe  smoked  after  being 
waxed.  Karol  had  struck  the  smoking  philosopher's  stone ;  and 
other  noblemen,  hearing  of  the  wonderful  properties  of  this 
singular  species  of  clay,  imported  it  in  considerable  quantities 
for  the  manufacture  of  pipes.  The  natural  scarcity  of  this 
much  esteemed  article,  and  the  great  cost  of  transportation  in 
those  days  of  limited  facilities  for  transportation,  rendered  its 
use  exclusively  confined  to  the  richest  European  noblemen 
until  1830,  when  it  became  a  more  general  article  of  trade. 
The  first  meerschaum  pipe  made  by  Karol  Kowates  has  been 
preserved  in  the  museum  at  Pesth. 

The  First  Oval  Lathe. 

William  Murdock,  the  inventor  of  the  oval  lathe,  was  a  poor 
millwright.  He  was  a  good  workman,  but  rather  shiftless, 
until  he  came  into  the  employ  of  Boulton  &  Watt,  the  Eng- 
lish manufacturers  of  steam-engines  in  the  last  century.  The 
way  in  which  the  millwright  first  attracted  the  attention  of 
these  great  machinists  is  thus  told: — 

Somewhere  about  the  year  1780,  a  traveling  millwright, 
weary  and  foot-sore,  and  with  the  broadest  of  Northern  Doric 
accent,  stopped  at  a  factory  in  England  and  asked  for  work. 
His  aspect  indicated  beggary,  and  the  proprietor,  Mr.  Boulton, 
had  bidden  him  seek  some  other  workshop,  when,  as  the  man 
was  turning  sorrowfully  away,  he  suddenly  called  him  back, 
saying — 

"What  kind  of  hat's  yon  ye  have  on  your  head,  my  man?" 
"It's  just  timmer,  sir,"  replied  the  man. 


132 

"Timmer,  my  man!"  ejaculated  the  manufacturer.  "Just 
let  me  look  at  it.  Where  on  earth  did  you  get  it?" 

"I  just  turned  it  in  the  lathe,"  said  the  mechanic,  with  a 
flush  of  pride. 

"But  it's  oval,  not  round,  my  man,"  said  Mr.  Boulton,  in 
surprise;  "and  lathes  turn  things  round." 

"A-weel,  I  just  gar'd  the  lathe  gang  anither  gait  to  please 
me;  and  I'd  a  long  journey  before  me,  and  I  thocht  I  *d  have 
a  hat  to  keep  out  water;  and  I  had  na  muckle  to  spare,  so  I 
just  make  ane. ' ' 

The  man  was  a  born  inventor,  but  he  didn't  know  it.  By 
his  ingenuity  he  had  invented  the  oval  lathe,  one  of  the  most 
useful  of  machines.  He  had  made  his  hat  with  it,  and  the 
hat  made  his  fortune.  Great  events  often  result  from  seeming 
trifles.  Mr.  Boulton  was  a  sharp  man  of  business.  He  saw 
that  the  man  who  could  turn  out  of  a  block  of  wood  an  oval 
hat,  was  too  valuable  a  workman  for  the  firm  of  Boulton  & 
Watt  to  lose  sight  of.  William  Murdock  was  then  and  there 
employed.  In  1 784  he  made  the  first  wheeled  vehicle  impelled 
by  steam  in  England, — made  it  with  his  own  hands  and 
brains.  He  gained  fame  and  fortune,  but  the  "timmer"  hat, 
made  for  a  long  journey  and  to  keep  out  water,  was  the  cor- 
ner-stone of  both. 

Porcelain. 

An  alchemist,  while  seeking  to  discover  a  mixture  of  earths 
that  would  make  the  most  durable  crucibles,  one  day  found 
that  he  had  made  porcelain. 


Origin  of  Blue-tinted  Paper. 

The  origin  of  blue-tinted  paper  came  about  by  a  mere  slip 
of  the  hand.     The  wife  of  William  East,  an  English  paper- 


133 

maker,  accidentally  let  a  blue  bag  fall  into  one  of  the  vats  of 
pulp.  The  workmen  were  astonished  when  they  saw  the 
peculiar  color  of  the  paper,  while  Mr.  East  was  highly  in- 
censed over  what  he  considered  a  grave  pecuniary  loss.  His 
\vife  was  so  much  frightened  that  she  would  not  confess  her 
agency  in  the  matter.  After  storing  the  damaged  paper  for 
four  years,  Mr.  East  sent  it  to  his  agent  at  London,  with  in- 
structions to  sell  it  for  what  it  would  bring.  The  paper  was 
accepted  as  a  "purposed  novelty,"  and  was  disposed  of  at 
quite  an  advance  over  the  market  price.  Mr.  East  was 
astonished  at  receiving  an  order  from  his  agent  for  another 
large  invoice  of  the  paper.  He  was  without  the  secret,  and 
found  himself  in  a  dilemma.  Upon  mentioning  it  to  his  wife, 
she  told  him  about  the  accident.  He  kept  the  secret,  and  the 
demand  for  the  novel  tint  far  exceeded  his  ability  to  supply  it. 

Following  His  Nose. 

While  Marshall  Jewell  was  Minister  to  Russia,  he  found  out, 
by  the  use  of  his  nose,  the  secret  of  making  Russia  leather. 
Instead  of  using  tallow  and  grease  in  the  dressings  of  skins, 
the  Russians  employed  birch-bark  tar.  By  careful  inquiry, 
and  literally  following  his  nose,  during  a  visit  to  one  of  their 
large  tanneries,  he  found  the  compound  in  a  mammoth  kettle, 
ready  for  use.  He  reported  his  discovery,  and  the  result  is 
that  genuine  Russian  leather  goods  are  now  made  in  America. 

Discovery  of  Composition  for  Printing 

Hollers. 

The  composition  of  which  printing-rollers  are  made  was 
discovered  by  a  Salopian  printer.  Not  being  able  to  find  the 
pelt-ball,  he  inked  the  type  with  a  piece  of  soft  glue  which 


134 

had  fallen  out  of  a  glue  pot.  It  was  such  an  excellent  substi- 
tute that,  after  mixing  molasses  with  the  glue,  to  give  the  mass 
proper  consistency,  the  old  pelt-ball  was  entirely  discarded. 

Mezzotinting. 

This  art  was  suggested  by  the  simple  accident  of  the  gun- 
barrel  of  a  sentry  becoming  rusted  with  dew. 

Whitening  Sugar. 

The  process  of  whitening  sugar  was  discovered  in  a  curious 
way.  A  hen  that  had  gone  through  a  clay  puddle  went  with 
her  muddy  feet  into  a  sugar  house,  leaving  her  tracks  on  a  pile 
of  sugar.  It  was  noticed  that  wherever  her  tracks  were  the 
sugar  was  whitened.  Experiments  were  instituted,  and  the 
result  was  that  wet  clay  came  to  be  used  in  refining  sugar. 

Discovery  of  Glass. 

Pliny  informs  us  that  the  art  of  making  glass  was  accident- 
ally discovered  by  some  merchants  who  were  traveling  with 
nitre,  and  stopped  near  a  river  issuing  from  Mount  Carmel. 
Not  readily  finding  stones  to  rest  their  kettles  on,  they  em- 
ployed some  pieces  of  their  nitre  for  that  purpose.  The  nitre, 
gradually  dissolving  by  the  heat  of  the  fire,  mixed  with  the 
sand,  and  a  transparent  matter  flowed,  which  was,  in  fact, 
glass. 

Essence  of  Pearl. 

A  French  bead-maker  named  Jaquin  discovered  the  manner 
of  preparing  the  glass  pearls  used  at  present,  which  approach 
as  near  to  nature  as  possible,  without  being  too  expensive. 


135 

He  once  noticed,   at  his  estate  near  Passy,  that  when  the 
small  fish  called  ables  or  ablettes  were  washed,  the  water  was 
filled  with  fine  silver-colored  particles.     He  suffered  the  water 
to  stand  for  some  time,  and  obtained  from  it  a  sediment  which 
had  the  lustre  of  the  most  beautiful  pearls,  which   suggested 
to  him  the  idea  of  making  pearls  from  it.     He  scraped  off  the 
scales  of  the  fish,  and  called  the  soft  shining  powder  which 
was  diffused  in  the  water  essence  of  pearl,  or  essence  d1  orient. 
He  succeeded  in  coating  the  interior  of  glass  beads  with  the 
pearly  liquid,  and  amassed  a  large  fortune.     This  was  during 
the  reign  of  Henry  IV.   (according  to  some  authors),  and 
Jaquin's  heirs  continued  the  business  down  to  a  late  period, 
and  had  a  considerable  manufactory  at  Rue  de  Petit  Lion,  at 
Paris.     It   required    from   eighteen  to   twenty  thousand  fish 
(which  were  not  more  than  four  inches  in  length)  to  make  a 
pound  of  the  essence  of  pearl.     These  pearls  were  frequently 
taken  for  genuine  ones.     Mercure  Galant  (1686),  tells  us  in 
that  year  of  a  poor  marquis,  who,  being  in  love  with  a  lady, 
gained  her  affections  by  presenting  her  with  a  string  of  arti- 
ficial pearls.     They  cost  him  not  more  than  three  louis,  while 
she,  believing  them  to  be  genuine  pearls,  valued  them  at  2,000 
francs.     Jewelers  and  pawnbrokers  were  frequently  deceived 
by  them. 

Diminutive  Note  Paper. 

A  Brighton  stationer  took  a  fancy  for  dressing  his  show- 
window  with  piles  of  writing  paper,  rising  gradually  from  the 
largest  to  the  smallest  size  in  use ;  and  to  finish  his  pyramids 
off  nicely,  he  cut  cards  to  bring  them  to  a  point.  Taking 
these  cards  for  diminutive  note  paper,  lady  customers  were 
continually  wanting  some  of  "  that  lovely  little  paper,"  and 
the  stationer  found  it  advantageous  to  cut  paper  to  the  desired 
pattern.  As  there  was  no  space  for  addressing  the  notelets 


136 

after  they  were  folded,  he,  after  much  thought,  invented  the 
envelope,  which  he  cut  by  the  aid  of  metal  plates  made  for 
the  purpose.  The  sale  increased  so  rapidly  that  he  was  un- 
able to  produce  the  envelopes  fast  enough,  so  he  commissioned 
a  dozen  houses  to  make  them  for  him,  and  thus  set  going  an 
important  branch  of  the  manufacturing  stationery  trade. 


Etching  upon  Glass. 

This  process  was  discovered  by  accident  about  the  year 
1670,  by  an  artist  named  Schwanhard.  We  are  told  that  some, 
aqua-fortis  having  fallen  by  accident  upon  his  spectacles,  the 
glass  was  corroded  by  it.  He  thence  learned  to  make  a  liquid 
by  which  he  could  etch  writing  and  figures  upon  glass. 


Lundy foot's  Luck. 

The  shop  of  a  Dublin  tobacconist  by  the  name  of  Lundy- 
foot  was  destroyed  by  fire.  While  he  was  gazing  dolefully 
into  the  smouldering  ruins,  he  noticed  that  his  poorer  neigh- 
bors were  gathering  the  snuff  from  the  canisters.  He  tested 
the  snuff  for  himself,  and  discovered  that  the  fire  had  largely 
improved  its  pungency  and  aroma.  It  was  a  hint  worth 
profiting  by.  He  secured  another  shop,  built  a  lot  of  ovens, 
subjected  the  snuff  to  a  heating  process,  gave  the  brand  a  par- 
ticular name,  and  in  a  few  years  became  rich  through  an  ac- 
cident which  he  at  first  thought  had  completely  ruined  him. 

Citric  Acid. 

A  London  chemist  was  the  inventor  of  citric  acid,  and, 
having  his  own  prices  as  long  as  the  way  of  making  the  acid 
was  a  secret,  realized  a  large  fortune. 


13t 

This  chemist  trusted  nobody,  but  worked  entirely  alone. 
He  thought  his  secret  very  safe.  It  was  necessary,  however, 
to  have  a  chimney  to  his  laboratory,  and  chimneys  sometimes 
want  sweeping. 

A  rival,  disguising  himself  as  a  chimney-sweep,  got  into  the 
sanctum.  He  had  all  his  eyes  about  him,  as  the  saying  is, 
and,  when  the  chimney  was  swept,  knew  how  to  make  citric 
acid,  and  thus  a  monopoly  was  ended. 

A  Half-Starved  Tramp. 

Mr.  Huntsman,  who  had  devised  some  important  processes 
in  the  manufacture  of  cast  steel,  built  his  factory,  to  be  out  of 
observation,  in  the  middle  of  a  bleak  moor,  and  "No  Admis- 
sion for  Strangers"  was  painted  on  the  outer  gate. 

One  terribly  snowy  night,  however,  a  poor,  belated,  half- 
frozen  traveler,  who  said  he  had  lost  his  way  on  the  moor, 
craved  shelter,  was  charitably  admitted,  and  was  placed  near 
the  furnace,  to  be  thawed.  He  watched  what  was  done,  and, 
being  an  expert,  took  it  all  away  in  his  mind.  Next  morning 
he  walked  away,  and  took  the  secret  with  him.  So  perished 
Huntsman's  El  Dorado. 

Fiddling  to  some  Purpose. 

Stourbridge,  a  smoky  town  in  Worcestershire,  England,  has 
long  been  famous  for  its  iron,  glass  and  fire-brick  works,  and 
also  for  its  nails,  as  long  as  they  were  produced  by  hand-work. 
For  the  Crystal  Palace,  of  1851,  a  Stourbridge  "hand" 
received  an  order  to  make  a  thousand  gold  and  a  thousand 
silver  and  a  thousand  iron  tacks — the  whole  three  thousand 
not  to  weigh  more  than  three  grains. 

Nailmaking  by  machinery,  which  was  accomplished  in 
Sweden  before  it  was  perfected  in  New  England,  was  drawing 


138 

the  trade  away  from  England,  and  a  Stourbridge  man,  one 
Richard  Foley,  resolved  to  get  into  the  heart  of  the  mystery. 
The  case  is  curious,  as  showing  the  danger  that  has  always 
beset  successful  inventors,  and  has  often  converted  the  golden 
hills  into  mere  rocks  of  talc,  and  reduced  many  a  secret 
El  Dorado  into  commonplace  little  workshops. 

Foley,  who  was  a  very  good  violinist,  took  his  fiddle,  fid- 
dled his  way  to  the  Swedish  splitting  mills,  and  then  fiddled 
his  way  into  them.  As  often  happens  with  musicians,  he 
presently  conceived  the  idea  that  there  was  "  a  great  deal  of 
brains  outside  of  his  head." 

At  any  rate,  he  could  look  and  speak  foolishly,  but  his 
fiddling  was  wonderfully  good.  No  one  suspected  that  "soft" 
fellow,  who  lounged  about  with  an  idiotic  want  of  expression 
in  his  face,  but  was  ready  to  play  whenever  asked  to  do  so. 

He  ingratiated  himself  so  thoroughly  with  the  workmen 
that  they  gave  him  a  shakedown  inside  the  mill  or  factory. 
He  quietly  exercised  his  faculty  of  observation,  saw  all  the 
processes  of  manipulation,  and  one  day  was  missing.  He 
carried  home  their  secrets  of  work,  and  fame  and  fortune 
became  his  own. 

German  Silver. 

German  silver  derives  its  name  from  the  fact  that  its  first 
introduction  in  the  arts,  to  any  great  extent,  was  made  in 
Germany.  It  is,  however,  nothing  more  than  the  white 
copper  long  known  in  China.  It  does  not  contain  a  particle 
Df  real  silver,  but  ia  an  alloy  of  copper,  nickel  and  zinc. 

Isabella  Color. 

The  Archduke  Albert  married  the  infanta  Isabella,  daughter 
of  Philip  II.,  King  of  Spain,  with  whom  he  had  the  Low 
Countries  in  dowry.  In  the  year  1602  he  laid  siege  to  Ostend, 


139 

then  in  the  possession  of  the  heretics,  and  his  pious  princess, 
who  attended  him  in  that  expedition,  made  a  vow  that  she 
would  not  change  her  clothes  until  the  city  was  taken.  Con- 
trary to  expectation,  it  was  three  years  before  the  place  was 
reduced,  in  which  time  the  linen  of  her  highness  had  acquired 
a  hue  which,  from  the  superstition  of  the  princess  and  the 
times,  was  much  admired,  and  was  adopted  by  the  court 
fashionables  under  the  name  of  the  "  Isabella  color."  It  is  a 
whitish  yellow,  or  soiled  buff — better  imagined  than  described. 

Parisian  Scarlet. 

The  tincture  of  cochineal  alone  yields  a  purple  color,  which 
may  be  changed  to  a  most  beautiful  scarlet  by  adding  a  solu- 
tion of  tin  in  aqua-regia,  or  muriatic  acid,  a  discovery  which 
was  made  by  accident.  Cornelius  Drebbel,  who  died  in  Lon- 
don in  1634,  having  placed  in  his  window  an  extract  of 
cochineal,  made  with  boiling  water,  for  the  purpose  of  filling 
a  thermometer,  some  aqua-regia  dropped  into  it  from  a  phial, 
broken  by  accident,  which  stood  above  it,  and  converted  the 
purple  dye  into  a  most  beautiful  scarlet.  After  some  con- 
jectures and  experiments,  he  discovered  that  the  tin  by  which 
the  window  frame  was  divided  into  squares  had  been  dissolved 
by  the  aqua-regia,  and  was  the  cause  of  the  change.  Giles 
Gobelin,  a  dyer  at  Paris,  used  it  for  dyeing  cloth.  It  became 
known  as  Parisian  scarlet  dye,  and  rose  into  such  great  repute 
that  the  populace  declared  that  Gobelin  had  acquired  his  art 
from  the  devil. 

Tyrian  Purple. 

The  purple  dye  of  Tyre  was  discovered  about  fifteen  cen- 
turies before  the  Christian  era,  and  the  art  of  using  it  did  not 
become  lost  until  the  eleventh  century  after  Christ.  It  was 


140 

obtained  from  two  genera  of  one  species  of  shell-fish,  the 
smaller  of  which  was  called  buccinum,  the  larger  purpura,  and 
to  both  the  common  name  mure  was  applied.  The  dye-stuff 
was  procured  by  puncturing  a  vessel  in  the  throat  of  the  larger 
genus,  and  by  pounding  the  smaller  entire.  The  tints  capable 
of  being  imparted  by  this  material  were  various — representing 
numerous  shades  between  purple  and  crimson,  but  the  imperial 
tint  was  that  resembling  coagulated  blood.  That  it  was 
known  to  the  Egyptians,  in  the  time  of  Moses,  is  sufficiently 
obvious  from  the  testimony  of  more  than  one  Scriptural  pass- 
age. Ultimately,  in  later  ages,  a  restrictive  policy  of  the 
eastern  emperors  caused  the  art  to  be  practised  by  only  a  few 
individuals,  and  at  last,  about  the  commencement  of  the 
twelfth  century,  when  Byzantium  was  suffering  from  attacks 
without  and  dissensions  within,  the  secret  of  imparting  the 
purple  dye  of  Tyre  was  lost. 

The  rediscovery  of  Tyrian  purple,  as  it  occurred  in  England, 
was  made  by  Mr.  Cole,  of  Bristol.  About  the  latter  end  of 
the  year  1683,  this  gentleman  heard  from  two  ladies  residing 
at  Minehead,  that  a  person  living  somewhere  on  the  coast  of 
Ireland  supported  himself  by  marking  with  a  delicate  crimson 
color  the  fine  linen  of  ladies  and  gentlemen  sent  him  for  that 
purpose,  which  color  was  the  product  of  a  shell-fish.  This 
recital  at  once  brought  to  the  recollection  of  Mr.  Cole  the 
tradition  of  Tyrian  purple.  He,  without  delay,  went  in  search 
of  the  shell-fish,  and,  after  trying  various  kinds  without  suc- 
cess, his  efforts  were  at  length  successful.  He  found  con- 
siderable quantities  of  the  buccinum  on  the  sea-coast  of 
Somersetshire  and  the  opposite  coast  of  South  Wales.  The 
fish  being  found,  the  next  difficulty  was  to  extract  the  dye, 
which  in  its  natural  state  is  not  purple  but  white,  the  purple 
being  the  result  of  exposure  to  the  air.  At  length  our  acute 
investigator  found  the  dye-stuff  in  a  white  vein  lying  trans- 
rersely  in  a  little  furrow  or  cleft  next  to  the  head  of  the  fish. 


141 

Odor  of  Patchouli. 

The  odor  of  patchouli  was  known  in  Europe  before  the 
material  itself  was  introduced,  in  consequence  of  its  use  in 
cashmere  to  scent  the  shawls  with  a  view  of  keeping  out  moths, 
which  are  averse  to  it ;  hence  the  genuine  cashmere  shawls 
were  known  by  their  scent,  until  the  French  found  out  the 
secret  and  imported  the  herb  for  use  in  the  same  way. 

Veneered  Diamonds. 

Quite  a  notable  industry  is  carried  on  in  Paris,  namely, 
the  manufacture  of  what  are  termed  veneered  diamonds.  The 
body  of  the  gem  is  of  quartz  or  crystal.  After  being  cut  into 
a  proper  shape,  it  is  put  into  a  galvanic  battery,  which  coats 
it  with  a  liquid,  the  latter  being  made  of  diamonds  which  are 
too  small  to  be  cut  and  of  the  clippings  taken  from  diamonds 
during  the  process  of  shapening  them.  In  this  way  all  the  small 
particles  of  diamonds  that  heretofore  have  been  regarded  as 
comparatively  worthless,  can,  by  means  of  this  ingenious 
process,  be  made  of  service  to  the  jeweler. 

Hungary   Water. 

This  is  a  spirit  of  wine  distilled  upon  rosemary,  and  con- 
tains a  powerful  aroma  of  the  plant.  For  many  years  it  was 
mainly  manufactured  at  Beaucaire  and  Montpellier,  in  France, 
where  the  plant  grows  in  abundance.  The  name  seems  to 
signify  that  this  water,  so  celebrated  for  its  medicinal  virtues, 
is  an  Hungarian  invention;  and  we  read  in  various  books  that 
the  recipe  for  preparing  it  was  given  to  a  queen  of  Hungary 
by  a  hermit,  or,  as  others  say,  by  an  angel,  who  appeared  to 
her  in  a  garden,  all  entrance  to  which  was  shut,  in  the  form 
of  a  hermit  or  youth.  Others  affirm  that  Elizabeth,  wife  of 


142 

Charles  Robert,  king  of  Hungary,  who  died  in  1380,  was  the 
inventor.  By  often  washing  with  this  spirit  of  rosemary, 
when  in  the  seventieth  year  of  her  age,  she  was  cured,  as  we 
are  told,  of  the  gout  and  an  universal  lameness;  so  that  she 
not  only  lived  to  pass  eighty,  but  became  so  lively  and  beauti- 
ful that  she  was  courted  by  the  king  of  Poland,  who  was  then 
a  widower,  and  who  wished  to  make  her  his  second  wife. 
Hoyer  says  that  the  recipe  for  preparing  this  water,  written 
by  Queen  Elizabeth's  own  hand,  in  golden  characters,  is  still 
preserved  in  the  Imperial  Library  at  Vienna.  Beckmann  says 
such  is  not  the  case. 

Cork  Jackets. 

The  use  of  cork  for  making  jackets,  as  an  aid  to  swimming, 
is  very  old.  We  are  informed  that  the  Roman  whom 
Camillus  sent  to  the  Capitol,  when  besieged  by  the  Gauls,  put 
on  a  light  dress,  and  took  cork  with  him  under  it,  because,  to 
avoid  being  taken  by  the  enemy,  it  was  necessary  for  him  to 
swim  across  the  Tiber. 

Nothing  New  under  the  Sun. 

The  Romans  used  movable  types  to  mark  their  pottery  and 
indorse  their  books.  Mr.  Layard  found,  in  Nineveh,  a  mag- 
nificent lens  of  rock-crystal,  which  Sir  D.  Brewster  considers 
a  true  optical  lens,  and  the  origin  of  the  microscope.  The 
principle  of  the  stereoscope,  invented  by  Professor  Wheat- 
stone,  was  known  to  Euclid,  described  by  Galen  fifteen  hun- 
dred years  ago,  and  more  fully  in  1599,  A.  D.,  in  the  works 
of  Baptista  Porta.  The  Thames  tunnel,  though  such  a  novelty, 
was  anticipated  by  that  under  the  Euphrates  at  Babylon,  and 
the  ancient  Egyptians  had  a  Suez  canal.  Such  examples 
might  be  indefinitely  multiplied ;  but  we  turn  to  Photography. 


143 

M.  Jobarb,  in  his  "Neuvelles  Inventions  aux  Expositions 
Universelles,"  1856,  says  a  translation  from  German  was  dis- 
covered in  Russia,  three  hundred  years  old,  which  contains  a 
clear  explanation  of  Photography.  The  old  alchemists  under- 
stood the  properties  of  chloride  of  silver  in  relation  to  light, 
and  its  photographic  action  is  explained  by  Fabricius  in  "De 
Rubus  Metallicis,"  1566.  The  daguerreotype  process  was 
anticipated  by  De  La  Roche,  in  his  "Giphantie,"  1760, 
though  it  was  only  the  statement  of  a  dreamer. 

How  the  Ancients  Rewarded  Inventors. 

A  Roman  architect  discovered  the  means  of  so  far  altering 
the  nature  of  glass  as  to  render  it  malleable ;  but  the  Emperor 
Tiberius  caused  the  architect  to  be  beheaded.  A  similar  dis- 
covery was  made  in  France  during  the  reign  of  Louis  XIII. 
The  inventor  presented  a  bust,  formed  of  malleable  glass,  to 
Cardinal  Richelieu,  and  was  rewarded  for  his  ingenuity  by 
perpetual  imprisonment,  lest  the  French  glass  manufacturers 
should  be  injured  by  the  discovery  of  it. 

Deutsche  Luft. 

A  German  newspaper  tells  an  amusing  story  of  the  famous 
scientist,  Alexander  von  Humboldt,  who  took  advantage  of 
the  exemption  from  duty  of  the  covering  of  articles  free  from 
duty,  formerly  the  rule  in  France.  In  the  year  1805  he  and 
Gay-Lussac  were  in  Paris,  engaged  in  their  experiments  on 
the  compression  of  air.  The  two  scientists  found  themselves 
in  need  of  a  large  number  of  glass  tubes,  and  since  this  article 
was  exceedingly  dear  in  France  at  that  time,  and  the  duty  on 
imported  glass  tubes  was  something  alarming,  Humboldt  sent 
an  order  to  Germany  for  the  needed  articles,  giving  directions 


144 

that  the  manufacturer  should  seal  the  tubes  at  both  ends,  and 
put  a  label  upon  each  with  the  words  "Deutschc  Luft" 
(German  air).  The  air  of  Germany  was  an  article  upon  which 
there  was  no  duty,  and  the  tubes  were  passed  by  the  custom 
officers  without  any  demand,  arriving  free  of  duty  in  the 
hands  of  the  two  experimenters. 

The  Great  Hero  of  the  Bretons. 

Merlin,  the  enchanter,  is  the  great  hero  of  the  Bretons  as 
he  is  of  the  Welsh,  the  same  legends  being  common  to  both 
people.  Among  other  lays  respecting  him  is  the  following, 
which  is  of  high  antiquity: — 

"  Merlin  !  Merlin !  whither  bound 

With  your  black  dog  by  your  side?"  (i) 

"  I  seek  until  the  prize  be  found, 

Where  the  red  egg  loves  to  hide. 

"  The  red  egg  of  the  sea-snake's  nest,  (2) 

Where  the  ocean  caves  are  seen, 
And  the  cress  that  grows  the  best, 
In  the  valley  fresh  and  green. 

"  I  must  find  the  golden  herb,  (3) 

And  the  oak's  high  bough  must  have,  (4) 
Where  no  sound  the  trees  disturb 
Near  the  fountain  as  they  wave." 

"  Merlin !  Merlin !  turn  again — 

Leave  the  oak-branch  where  it  grew ; 
Seek  no  more  the  cress  to  gain, 
Nor  the  herb  of  gold  pursue. 

"  Nor  the  red  egg  of  the  snake, 

Where  amid  the  foam  it  lies, 

In  the  cave  where  billows  break: 

Leave  these  fearful  mysteries. 

"  Merlin,  turn !  to  God  alone 
Are  such  fatal  secrets  known  I" 


145 

(i.)  At  the  foot  of  Mont  St.  Michel  extends  a  wide  marsh. 
If  the  mountaineer  sees  in  the  dusk  of  the  evening  a  tall  man, 
thin  and  pale,  followed  by  a  black  dog,  whose  steps  are 
directed  toward  the  marsh,  he  hurries  home,  shuts  and  locks 
the  door  of  his  cottage,  and  throws  himself  on  his  knees  to 
pray,  for  he  knows  that  the  tempest  is  approaching.  Soon 
after,  the  winds  begin  to  howl,  the  thunder  bursts  forth  in 
tremendous  peals,  and  the  mountain  trembles  to  its  base.  It 
is  the  moment  when  Merlin,  the  enchanter,  evokes  the  souls 
of  the  dead. 

(2.)  The  red  egg  of  the  sea-snake  was  a  powerful  talisman, 
whose  virtue  nothing  could  equal ;  it  was  to  be  worn  around 
the  neck. 

(3.)  The  golden  herb  is  a  medicinal  plant.  The  peasants 
of  Bretagne  hold  it  in  great  esteem,  and  say  that  it  shines  at 
a  distance  like  gold.  If  any  one  tread  it  under  foot  he  falls 
asleep,  and  can  understand  the  language  of  dogs,  wolves  and 
birds.  This  simple  is  supposed  to  be  rarely  met  with,  and 
only  at  daybreak.  In  order  to  gather  it  (a  privilege  only 
granted  to  the  devout),  it  is  necessary  to  be  en  chemise  and 
with  bare  feet.  It  must  be  torn  up,  not  cut.  Another  way  is 
to  go  with  naked  feet,  in  a  white  robe,  fasting,  and,  without 
using  a  knife,  gather  the  herb  by  slipping  the  right  hand  under 
the  left  arm  and  letting  it  fall  into  a  cloth,  which  can  only  be 
used  once. 

(4.)  The  high  oak  bough  is  probably  the  mistletoe.  The 
voice  which  warns  Merlin  in  the  poem  may  be  intended  for 
that  of  Saint  Colombar,  who  is  said  to  have  converted  Merlin. 

The  Wandering  Jew. 

Brought  to  Europe  from  the  East,  after  the  first  crusade 
under  Peter  the  Hermit,  late  in  the  eleventh  century,  was  the 
legend  of  the  Wandering  Jew.  This  appellation  was  given 


146 

by  the  popular  voice  to  almost  every  mendicant  with  a  long 
white  beard  and  scanty  clothing,  who,  supported  by  a  long 
staff,  trudged  along  the  roads  with  eyes  downcast,  and  without 
opening  his  lips. 

In  the  year  1228  this  legend  was  told  for  the  first  time  by 
an  Armenian  bishop,  then  lately  arrived  from  the  Holy  Land, 
to  the  monks  of  St.  Alban,  in  England.  According  to  his 
narrative,  Joseph  Cartaphilus  was  door-keeper  at  the  prseto- 
rium  of  Pontius  Pilate  when  Jesus  was  led  away  to  be  crucified. 
As  Jesus  halted  upon  the  threshold  of  the  praetorium,  Carta- 
philus struck  him  in  the  loins  and  said  :  "  Move  faster !  Why 
do  you  stop  here?"  Jesus,  the  legend  continues,  turned 
round  to  him  and  said,  with  a  severe  look  :  "I  go,  but  you 
will  await  my  coming." 

Cartaphilus,  who  was  then  thirty  years  old,  and  who  since 
then  has  always  returned  to  that  age  when  he  had  completed 
a  hundred  years,  has  ever  since  been  awaiting  the  coming  of 
our  Lord  and  the  end  of  the  world.  He  was  said  to  suffer 
under  the  peculiar  doom  of  ceaselessly  traversing  the  earth  on 
foot.  The  general  belief  was  that  he  was  a  man  of  great 
piety,  of  sad  and  gentle  manners,  of  few  words,  often  weeping, 
seldom  smiling,  and  content  with  the  scantiest  and  simplest 
food  and  the  most  poverty-stricken  garments.  Such  was  the 
tradition  which  poets  and  romancists  in  various  lands  and 
many  languages  have  introduced  into  song  and  story. 

As  the  ages  rolled  on  new  circumstances  were  added  to 
this  tale.  Paul  of  Eitzen,  a  German  bishop,  wrote  in  a  letter 
to  a  friend  that  he  had  met  the  Wandering  Jew  at  Hamburg, 
in  1564,  and  had  a  long  conversation  with  him.  He  appeared 
to  be  fifty  years  of  age.  His  hair  was  long,  and  he  went 
barefoot.  His  dress  consisted  of  very  full  breeches,  a  short 
petticoat  or  kilt  reaching  to  the  knees,  and  a  cloak  so  long 
that  it  descended  to  his  heels.  Instead  of  Joseph  Cartaphilus, 
he  then  was  called  Ahasuerus.  He  attended  Christian  wor- 


147 

ship,  prostrating  himself  with  sighs,  tears  and  beating  of  the 
breast  whenever  the  name  of  Jesus  was  spoken.  The  bishop 
further  stated  that  this  man's  speech  was  very  edifying.  He 
could  not  hear  an  oath  without  bursting  into  tears,  and  when 
offered  money  would  accept  only  a  few  sous. 

According  to  the  bishop's  version  of  the  affair,  Cartaphilus 
was  standing  in  front  of  his  house,  in  Jerusalem,  with  his  wife 
and  children,  when  he  roughly  accosted  Jesus,  who  had  halted 
to  take  breath  while  carrying  his  cross  to  Calvary.  "  I  shall 
stop  and  be  at  rest,"  was  all  that  the  Lord  said;  "but  you 
will  ever  be  on  foot."  After  this  sentence  Cartaphilus  quitted 
home  and  family  to  do  perpetual  penance  by  wandering  on 
foot  over  the  whole  world.  He  did  not  know,  the  bishop 
said,  what  God  intended  to  do  with  him,  in  compelling  him 
so  long  to  lead  such  a  miserable  life,  but  had  hope  and  faith 
in  His  mercy.  There  was  scarcely  a  town  or  village  in 
Europe,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  but  what  claimed  to  have 
given  hospitality  to  this  unfortunate  witness  of  the  Passion 
of  our  Lord. 

The  Pyed  Piper. 

Verstegan,  in  his  "Restitution  of  Decayed  Intelligence," 
1634,  relates  the  following  strange  story:  "  Hulberstadt,  in 
Germany,  was  extremely  intested  with  rats,  which  a  certain 
musician,  called,  from  his  habit,  the  Pyed  Piper,  agreed  for  a 
large  sum  of  money  to  destroy.  He  tuned  his  pipes,  and  the 
rats  immediately  followed  him  to  the  next  river,  where  they 
were  all  drowned.  But  when  the  piper  demanded  his  pay  he 
was  refused  with  scorn  and  contempt,  upon  which  he 
began  another  tune,  and  was  followed  by  all  the  children  of 
the  town  to  a  neighboring  hill  called  Hamelen,  which  opened 
and  swallowed  them  up,  then  closed  again.  One  boy,  being 
lame,  came  after  the  rest,  but  seeing  what  had  happened,  he 


148 

returned  and  related  the  strange  circumstance.'  The  story 
was  believed,  for  the  parents  never  after  heard  of  their  lost 
children.  This  incident  is  stated  to  have  happened  on  the 
23d  of  July,  in  the  year  1376,  and  since  that  time  the  people 
of  Hulberstadt  permit  not  any  drum,  pipe  or  other  instrument 
to  be  sounded  in  that  street  which  leads  to  the  gate  through 
which  the  children  passed.  They  also  established  a  decree 
that  in  all  writings  of  contract  or  bargain,  after  the  date  of 
our  Saviour's  nativity,  the  date  also  of  the  year  of  the 
children's  going  forth  should  be  added,  in  perpetual  remem- 
brance of  this  surprising  event." 

Thomas,  the  Rhymer. 

This  character  was  one  of  the  earliest  poets  of  Scotland. 
His  life  and  writings  are  involved  in  much  obscurity,  though 
he  is  supposed  to  have  been  Thomas  Learmount,  of  Ercildonne. 
The  time  of  his  birth  is  unknown,  but  he  appears  to  have 
reached  the  height  of  his  reputation  in  1283,  when  he  is  said 
to  have  predicted  the  death  of  Alexander  III.,  king  of 
Scotland.  One  day  the  Rhymer,  when  visiting  at  the  Castle 
of  Dunbar,  was  interrogated  by  the  Earl  of  March  in  a  jocular 
manner  as  to  what  the  morrow  would  bring  forth.  "Alas 
for  to-morrow!  a  day  of  calamity  and  misery!"  replied  the 
Rhymer.  ''Before  the  twelfth  hour  shall  be  heard  a  blast  so 
vehement  that  it  shall  exceed  all  those  which  have  yet  been 
heard  in  Scotland — a  blast  which  shall  strike  the  nations  with 
amazement ;  shall  confound  those  who  hear  it ;  shall  humble 
what  is  lofty,  and  what  is  unbending  shall  level  with  the 
ground."  On  the  following  day  the  earl,  who  had  been  un- 
able to  discover  any  unusual  appearance  in  the  weather,  when 
seating  himself  at  table,  observed  the  hand  of  the  dial  to 
point  to  the  hour  of  noon,  while,  at  the  same  moment,  a 
messenger  appeared,  bringing  the  mournful  tidings  of  the  ac- 


149 

cidental  death  of  the  king.  The  legend  says  that  the  Rhymer 
was  carried  off  at  an  early  age  to  Fairyland,  where  he  acquired 
all  the  knowledge  which  made  him  so  famous.  After  seven 
years'  residence  there,  he  was  permitted  to  return  to  the  earth 
to  enlighten  and  astonish  his  countrymen  by  his  prophetic 
powers,  but  bound  to  return  to  the  Fairy  Queen,  his  royal 
mistress,  whenever  she  should  intimate  her  pleasure.  Accord- 
ingly, while  the  Rhymer  was  making  merry  with  his  friends  at 
his  tower  at  Ercildonne,  a  person  came  running  in  and  told, 
with  marks  of  alarm  and  astonishment,  that  a  hart  and  hind 
had  left  the  neighboring  forest,  and  were  slowly  and  com- 
posedly parading  the  street  of  the  village.  The  Rhymer  in- 
stantly rose,  left  his  habitation,  and  followed  the  animals  to 
the  forest,  whence  he  was  never  seen  to  return. 

Pontius  Pilate  at  Vienne. 

There  is  a  tradition  at  Vienne,  in  Provence,  that  in  the 
reign  of  the  Emperor  Tiberius,  Pontius  Pilate  was  exiled  to 
that  city,  where  he  died  not  long  after  of  grief  and  despair 
for  not  having  prevented  the  crucifixion  of  the  Saviour,  and 
his  body  was  thrown  into  the  Rhone.  There  it  remained, 
neither  carried  away  by  the  force  of  the  current  nor  consumed 
by  decay,  for  five  hundred  years,  until  the  town,  being  afflicted 
with  the  plague,  it  was  revealed  to  the  then  archbishop,  in  a 
vision,  that  the  calamity  was  occasioned  by  Pilate's  body, 
which,  unknown  to  the  good  people  of  Vienne,  was  lying  at 
the  foot  of  a  certain  tower.  The  place  was  accordingly 
searched,  and  the  body  drawn  up  entire,  but  nothing  could 
equal  its  intolerable  odor.  It  was  carried  to  a  marsh  two 
leagues  from  the  town  and  there  interred,  but  for  many  years 
after  strange  noises  were  reported  to  issue  continually  from  the 
place.  The  sounds  were  believed  to  be  the  groans  of  Pontius 
Pilate,  and  the  cries  of  the  devils  tormenting  him.  It  was 


150 

imagined  that  it  was  the  presence  of  his  body  which  caused 
the  violent  thunder-storms  which  are  so  frequent  at  Vienne ; 
and  as  the  tower  where  the  body  was  found  has  been  several 
times  struck  by  lightning,  it  is  called  the  tower  of  Mauconseil. 

The  Sea-woman  of  Haarlem. 

In  the  "  History  of  the  Netherlands"  there  is  the  following 
strange  account  of  the  Sea-woman  of  Haarlem  : — 

*  'At  that  time  there  was  a  great  tempest  at  sea,  with  ex- 
ceeding high  tides,  the  which  did  drowne  many  villages  in 
Friseland  and  Holland ;  by  which  tempest  there  came  a  sea- 
woman  swimming  in  the  Zuyderzee  betwixt  the  towns  of 
Campen  and  Edam,  the  which  passing  by  the  Purmerie, 
entered  into  the  straight  of  a  broken  dyke  in  the  Purmermer, 
where  she  remained  a  long  time,  and  could  not  find  the  hole 
by  which  she  entered,  for  that  the  breach  had  been  stopped 
after  that  the  tempest  had  ceased.  Some  country  women  and 
their  servants  who  did  dayly  pass  the  Pourmery  to  milk  their 
kine  in  the  next  pastures,  did  often  see  this  woman  swimming 
on  the  water,  whereof  at  first  they  were  much  afraid ;  but  in 
the  end,  being  accustomed  to  see  it  very  often,  they  viewed 
it  neerer,  and  at  last  they  resolved  to  take  it  if  they  could. 
Having  discovered  it,  they  rowed  towards  it,  and  drew  it  out 
of  the  water  by  force,  carrying  it  into  the  town  of  Edam. 

"  When  she  had  been  well  washed  and  cleansed  from  the 
sea-moss  which  was  grown  about  her,  she  was  like  unto 
another  woman.  She  was  appareled,  and  began  to  accustome 
herself  to  ordinary  meats  like  unto  any  other,  yet  she  sought 
still  means  to  escape  and  to  get  into  the  water,  but  she  was 
straightly  guarded.  They  came  from  farre  to  see  her.  Those 
of  Haarlem  made  great  sute  to  them  of  Edam  to  have  this 
woman,  by  reason  of  the  strangenesse  thereof.  In  the  end 
they  obtained  her,  where  she  did  learn  to  spin,  and  lived 


151 

many  years  (some  say  fifteen),  and  for  the  reverance  which 
she  bore  unto  the  signe  of  the  crosse  whereunto  she  had  been 
accustomed,  she  was  buried  in  the  church-yarde.  Many  per- 
sons worthy  of  credit  have  justified  in  their  writings  that  they 
had  scene  her  in  the  said  towne  of  Haarlem." 


Legends  of  Judas  Iscariot. 

It  was  believed  in  Pier  della  Valle's  time  that  the  descend- 
ants of  Judas  Iscariot  still  existed  at  Corfu,  though  the  persons 
who  suffered  under  the  imputation  stoutly  denied  it. 

When  the  ceremony  of  washing  the  feet  is  performed  in  the 
Greek  Church  at  Smyrna,  the  bishop  represents  Christ,  and 
the  twelve  apostles  are  acted  by  as  many  priests.  He  who 
personates  Judas  must  be  paid  for  it,  and  such  is  the  feeling 
of  the  people,  that  whoever  accepts  this  odious  part  com- 
monly retains  the  name  of  Judas  for  life. — Hassclquiet,  p.  43. 

Judas  serves  in  Brazil  for  a  Guy  Faux  to  be  carried  about 
by  the  boys.  The  Spanish  sailors  hang  him  at  the  yard-arm. 
The  Armenians,  who  believe  hell  and  limbo  to  be  the  same 
place,  say  that  Judas,  after  having  betrayed  the  Lord,  resolved 
to  hang  himself,  because  he  knew  Christ  was  to  go  to  limbo 
and  deliver  all  the  souls  which  he  found  there,  and  therefore 
he  thought  to  get  there  in  time.  But  the  devil  was  more  cun- 
ning than  he,  and  knowing  his  intention,  held  him  over  limbo 
till  the  Lord  had  passed  through,  and  then  let  him  fall  plum 
into  hell.— Thcvenot. 

Blue  Beard. 

Perrault,  the  author  of  "Blue  Beard,"  founded  the  story, 
popular  belief  assures  us,  on  the  history  of  a  real  person. 
The  original  was  Giles  de  Retz,  Lord  of  Laval,  who  was  made 
Marshal  of  France  in  1429.  He  was  born  in  1406,  and 


152 

fought  under  the  command  of  Joan  of  Arc.  He  lived  like  a 
king  in  his  castle,  with  two  hundred  horsemen  for  his  guard  of 
honor,  besides  fifty  choristers,  chaplains  and  musicians. 
He  was  wild  and  profligate,  lavish  with  his  own  money  and  of 
other  people's,  and  lived  at  the  costliest  rate. 

When  he  had  squandered  his  property,  he  took  to  the  study 
of  sorcery  and  magic,  having  an  especial  fancy  for  murdering 
young  children.  From  the  villages  within  a  circuit  of  twenty 
miles,  little  boys  and  girls  were  seduced  into  his  castle  and 
there  immolated  according  to  some  wild  Pagan  rites.  Among 
his  papers,  history  says,  was  found  a  list  of  two  hundred 
children  whom  he  had  thus  sacrificed. 

On  the  26th  of  October,  1440,  then  being  thirty-four  years 
old,  he  was  burned  in  the  city  of  Nantes,  having  been  pre- 
viously strangled  in  view  of  a  vast  multitude.  The  records  of 
his  trial,  which  lasted  a  whole  month,  are  preserved  among 
the  manuscripts  of  the  public  library  in  Paris.  In  one  of  his 
castles  the  bones  of  forty-six,  and  in  another  of  eighty  child- 
ren, were  discovered.  Marshal  de  Retz  was  certainly  the 
type  of  Perrault's  story.  It  appears  that  in  his  lifetime  he 
was  known  by  the  sobriquet  of  Barbe  Bleu. 

African  Rain-Doctors. 

How  a  belief  in  imaginary  virtues  of  things  may  grow  out 
of  the  evidence  of  their  real  virtues,  is  indicated  by  Dr. 
Livingstone,  when  speaking  of  the  belief  in  rain-making 
among  the  tribes  in  the  heart  of  South  Africa.  The  African 
priest  and  the  medicine-man  is  one  and  the  same,  and  his 
chief  function  is  to  make  the  clouds  to  give  out  rain.  The 
preparations  for  this  purpose  are  various :  charcoal  made  of 
burned  bats;  lion's  hearts,  and  hairy  calculi  from  the  bowels 
of  old  cows ;  serpent  skins  and  and  vertebrae,  and  every  kind 
of  tuber,  bulb,  root  and  plant  to  be  found  in  the  country. 


153 

"Although  you  disbelieve  their  efficacy  in  charming  the 
clouds  to  pour  out  their  refreshing  treasures,  yet,  conscious 
that  civility  is  useful  everywhere,  you  kindly  state  that  you 
think  they  are  mistaken  as  to  their  power.  The  rain-doctor 
selects  a  particular  bulbous  root,  pounds  it,  and  administers  a 
cold  infusion  of  it  to  a  sheep,  which  in  five  minutes  afterwards 
expires  in  convulsions.  Part  of  the  same  bulb  is  converted 
into  smoke  and  ascends  towards  the  sky :  rain  follows  in  a 
day  or  two.  The  inference  is  obvious." 

Whittington  and  his  Cat. 

This  fable  of  the  cat  is  borrowed  from  the  East.  Sir  Will- 
iam Gore  Ousely,  speaking  of  the  origin  of  the  name  of  an 
island  in  the  Persian  Gulf,  says  that  in  the  tenth  century,  one 
Keis,  the  son  of  a  poor  widow  in  Siraf,  embarked  for  India 
with  his  sole  property,  a  cat.  "He  fortunately  arrived  there 
at  a  time  when  the  palace  was  so  infested  by  mice  or  rats  that 
they  invaded  the  king's  food,  and  persons  were  employed  to 
drive  them  away  from  the  royal  banquet.  Keis  produced  his 
cat ;  the  noxious  animals  disappeared  ;  Keis  was  magnificently 
rewarded,  sent  for  his  mother  and  brother,  and  settled  on  the 
island,  which  was  subsequently  called  after  him." 

Head  of  James  IV.  of  Scotland. 

The  king  was  slain  in  the  battle  at  Flodden  Field.  At  the 
close  of  the  bloody  arbitrament  his  body  was  found  among  a 
heap  of  the  fallen.  The  discoverers  made  a  prize  of  the 
corpse,  wrapped  it  up  in  lead,  and  transmitted  it  as  a  thanks- 
giving offering  to  the  monastery  of  Sheen,  in  Surrey.  It  was 
well  taken  care  of  by  the  honest  people  there  as  long  as  the 
monastery  stood ;  but  when  the  dissolution  of  those  religious 


154 

establishments  took  place,  and  the  edifice  was  converted  into 
a  mansion  for  the  Duke  of  Suffolk,  the  king's  body  was  put 
into  a  fresh  wrapping  of  lead  and  carried  into  an  upper 
lumber-room.  Some  workmen  engaged  in  the  house  cut  off 
the  head  out  of  sheer  wantonness.  Their  master,  a  glazier 
from  Cheapside,  carried  the  head  with  him"  to  the  city.  There, 
on  his  sideboard,  the  dried  remnant  of  a  crowned  king,  with 
its  red  hair  and  beard,  was  long  the  admiration  of  the  glazier's 
evening  parties  and  a  subject  of  conversation  for  his  guests. 
John  Stow  saw  it  there,  expostulated,  purchased  the  anointed 
skull,  and  gave  it  quiet  and  decent  burial  within  the  old 
church  of  St.  Michael's. 


Discovery  of  the  Body  of  Canute  the  Great. 

In  June,  1776,  some  workmen  who  were  repairing  Winches- 
ter Cathedral  discovered  a  monument  which  contained  the 
body  of  King  Canute.  It  was  remarkably  fresh,  had  a  wreath 
round  the  head  and  several  ornaments  of  gold  and  silver 
bands.  On  his  finger  was  a  ring,  in  which  was  set  a  large  and 
remarkably  fine  stone,  and  in  one  of  his  hands  a  silver  coin. 
The  coin  found  in  the  hand  is  a  singular  instance  of  a  con- 
tinuance of  the  Pagan  custom  of  always  providing  the  dead 
with  money  to  pay  Charon. 

Martyrdom  of  Isaiah. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  the  prophet  Isaiah  suffered  martyr- 
dom by  a  saw.  The  ancient  book  entitled,  "  The  Ascension 
of  Isaiah  the  Prophet, "  accords  with  the  tradition.  It  says: 
"  Then  they  seized  Isaiah  the  son  of  Amos  and  sawed  him 
with  a  wooden  saw.  And  Manasseh,  Melakira,  the  false 
prophets,  the  princess  and  the  people,  all  stood  looking  on. 


155 

But  he  said  to  the  prophets  who  were  with  him  before  he  was 
sawn,  '  Go  ye  to  the  country  of  Tyre  and  Sidon,  for  the 
Lord  hath  mixed  the  cup  for  me  alone.'  Neither  while  they 
were  sawing  him  did  he  cry  out  nor  weep,  but  he  continued 
addressing  himself  to  the  Holy  Spirit  until  he  was  sawn 
asunder. ' ' 

Courtship  of  William  the  Conqueror 

The  following  extract  from  the  life  of  the  wife  of  the  Con- 
queror is  exceedingly  curious  as  characteristic  of  the  manners 
of  a  semi-civilized  age  and  nation  : — 

"After  some  years  of  delay,  William  appears  to  have  be- 
come desperate,  and,  if  we  may  trust  to  the  evidence  of  the 
'  Chronicle  of  Ingerbe, '  he  waylaid  Matilda  in  the  streets  of 
Bruges  as  she  was  returning  from  mass,  seized  her,  rolled  her 
in  the  dirt,  spoiled  her  rich  array ;  and,  not  content  with  these 
outrages,  struck  her  repeatedly,  then  rode  off  at  full  speed. 
This  Teutonic  method  of  courtship,  according  to  our  author, 
brought  the  affair  to  a  crisis ;  for  Matilda,  either  convinced  of 
the  strength  of  William's  passion  by  the  violence  of  his  be- 
haviour, or  afraid  of  encountering  a  second  beating,  consented 
to  become  his  wile.  How  he  ever  presumed  to  enter  her 
presence  again  after  such  enormities  the  chronicler  sayeth 
not,  and  we  are  at  a  loss  to  imagine." 


Court  Fools. 

From  very  ancient  times  there  existed  a  class  of  persons 
whose  business  it  was  to  amuse  the  rich  and  noble,  particularly 
at  table,  by  jests  and  witty  sayings.  It  was,  however,  during 
the  Middle  Ages  that  this  singular  vocation  became  fully  de- 
veloped. The  symbols  of  the  court  fool  were :  the  shaven 
crown,  the  fool's  cap  of  gay  colors  with  asses'  ears  and  cock's 


156 

comb  and  bells,  the  fool's  sceptre,  and  a  wide  collar.  Some 
of  these  professional  fools  obtained  an  historical  reputation,  as 
Triboulet,  jester  to  Francis  I.  of  France ;  Klaus  Narr,  at  the 
Court  of  the  Elector  Frederic,  the  Wise  of  Prussia,  and  Sco- 
gan,  court  fool  to  Edward  IV.  of  England.  Besides  the 
regular  fools,  dressed  and  recognized  as  such,  there  was  a 
higher  class  called  merry  counsellors,  generally  men  of  talent, 
who  availed  themselves  of  the  privilege  of  free  speech  to  ridi- 
cule in  the  most  merciless  manner  the  follies  and  vices  of 
their  contemporaries.  At  a  later  period,  imbecile  or  weak- 
minded  persons  were  kept  for  the  entertainment  of  company. 
Even  ordinary  noblemen  considered  such  an  attendant  indis- 
pensable, and  thus  the  system  reached  its  last  stage,  and 
toward  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  it  was  abolished. 
It  survived  longest  in  Russia,  where  Peter  the  Great  had  so 
many  fools  that  he  divided  them  into  distinct  classes. 

A  Cunning  Astrologer. 

An  astrologer  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XL  of  France,  having 
foretold  something  disagreeable  to  the  king,  his  majesty,  in 
revenge,  resolved  to  have  him  killed.  The  next  day  he  sent 
for  the  astrologer  and  ordered  the  people  about  him,  at  a 
given  signal,  to  throw  him  out  of  the  window.  The  king 
said  to  him  :  "  You  pretend  to  be  such  a  wise  man,  and  know 
so  perfectly  the  fate  of  others,  inform  me  a  little  what  will  be 
your  own,  and  how  long  you  have  to  live.''  The  astrologer, 
who  now  began  to  apprehend  some  danger,  promptly  answered, 
with  great  presence  of  mind,  "  I  know  my  destiny,  and  am 
sure  I  shall  die  three  days  before  your  majesty."  The  king, 
on  this,  was  so  far  from  having  him  thrown  out  of  the  window, 
that,  on  the  contrary,  he  took  particular  care  not  to  have  him 
want  for  anything,  and  did  all  that  was  possible  to  retard  the 
death  of  one  whom  he  was  likely  soon  to  follow. 


157 

Stone  Barometer. 

A  Finland  newspaper  mentions  a  stone  in  the  northern  part 
of  Finland  which  serves  the  inhabitants  instead  of  a  baro- 
meter. This  stone,  which  they  call  Tlmakiur,  turns  black,  or 
blackish  gray,  when  it  is  going  to  rain  ;  but  on  the  approach 
of  fine  weather  it  is  covered  with  white  spots.  Probably  it  is 
a  fossil  mixed  with  clay,  and  containing  rock-salt,  nitre  or 
ammonia,  which,  according  to  the  degree  of  dampness  in 
the  atmosphere,  attracts  it,  or  otherwise.  In  the  latter  case 
the  salt  appears,  forming  the  white  spots. 

Crinoline  in  1744- 

Addison,  who  wrote  a  good  deal  about  female  fashions  in 
the  "Spectator,"  very  much  ridiculed  the  hoop-petticoat, 
which  was  so  large,  about  the  year  1744,  that  a  woman  wear- 
ing one  occupied  the  space  of  six  men. 

Pagoda-shaped  Head-dresses. 

The  head-dresses  of  the  ladies  in  1776  were  remarkable  for 
their  enormous  height.  Fashion  ruled  its  votaries  then  as 
arbitrarily  as  in  our  day.  The  coiffure  of  a  belle  of  fashion 
was  described  as  "  a  mountain  of  wool,  hair,  powder,  lawn, 
muslin,  net,  lace,  gauze,  ribbon,  flowers,  feathers  and  wire." 
Sometimes  these  varied  materials  were  built  up  tier  upon  tier, 
like  the  stages  of  a  pagoda ! 

Preserved  in  Salt. 

We  are  told  that  Pharnaces  caused  the  body  of  his  father, 
Mithridates,  to  be  deposited  in  salt  brine,  in  order  that  he 
might  transmit  it  to  Pompey.  Sigebert,  who  died  in  1113, 


158 


informs  us  that  a  like  process  was  employed  upon  the  body  of 
St.  Guibert,  that  it  might  be  kept  during  a  journey  in  summer. 
The  priests  preserved  in  salt  the  sow  which  afforded  a  happy 
omen  to  ^Eneas  by  having  brought  forth  a  litter  of  thirty 
pigs,  as  we  are  told  by  Varro,  in  whose  time  the  animal  was 
still  shown  at  Lavinium.  The  hippopotamus  described  by 
Columna  was  sent  to  him  from  Egypt  preserved  in  salt. 

Luxury  in  1562. 

The  luxury  of  the  present  time  does  not  equal,  in  one  arti- 
cle at  least,  that  of  the  sixteenth  century.  Sir  Nicholas 
Throckmorton,  the  queen's  ambassador  at  Paris,  in  a  letter  to 
Sir  Thomas  Chaloner,  the  ambassador  at  Madrid,  in  June 
1562,  says — 

*'  I  pray  you  good  my  Lord  Ambassador  sende  me  two 
paire  of  perfumed  gloves,  perfumed  with  orrange  flowers  and 
jacemin,  th'  one  for  my  wives  hand,  the  other  for  mine  owne ; 
and  wherin  soever  I  can  pleasure  you  with  anything  in  this 
countrey,  you  shall  have  it  in  recompence  thereof,  or  els  so 
moche  money  as  they  shall  coste  you,  provided  alwaies  that 
they  be  of  the  best  choise,  wherin  your  judgment  is  inferior 
to  none." 

<    Trains  in  the  Fourteenth  Century. 

In  Mr.  Wright's  collection  of  Latin  stories,  there  is  one  of 
the  fourteenth  century — a  monkish  satire  upon  dresses  with 
long  trains — 

**Qf  a  Proud  Woman, — I  have  heard  of  a  proud  woman 
who  wore  a  white  dress  with  a  long  train,  which,  trailing  be- 
hind her,  raised  a  dust  as  far  as  the  altar  and  the  crucifix. 
But,  as  she  left  the  church,  and  lifted  up  her  train  on  account 
of  the  dirt,  a  certain  holy  man  saw  a  devil  laughing ;  and 


159 


having  adjured  him  to  tell  why  he  laughed,  the  devil  said : 
"  A  companion  of  mine  was  just  now  sitting  on  the  train  of 
that  woman,  using  it  as  if  it  were  his  chariot,  but  when  she 
lifted  her  train  up,  my  companion  was  shaken  off  into  the 
dirt,  and  that  is  why  I  was  laughing. ' ' 


Foppery  in  Eminent  Men. 

"Peculiarities  of  dress,  even  amounting  to  foppery,  so  com- 
mon among  eminent  men,  are  carried  off  from  ridicule  by 
ease  in  some  or  stateliness  in  others.  We  may  smile  at  Chat- 
ham, scrupulously  crowned  in  his  best  wig,  if  intending  to 
speak;  at  Erskine,  drawing  on  his  bright  yellow  gloves 
before  he  rose  to  plead ;  at  Horace  Walpole,  in  a  cravat  of 
Gibbon's  carvings ;  at  Raleigh,  loading  his  shoes  with  jewels 
so  heavy  that  he  could  scarcely  walk;  at  Petrarch,  pinching 
his  feet  till  he  crippled  them ;  at  the  rings  which  covered  the 
philosophical  fingers  of  Aristotle ;  at  the  bare  throat  of  Byron ; 
the  American  dress  of  Rousseau ;  the  scarlet  and  gold  coat  of 
Voltaire;  or  the  prudent  carefulness  with  which  Caesar 
scratched  his  head  so  as  not  to  disturb  the  locks  arranged 
over  the  bald  place.  But  most  of  these  men,  we  apprehend, 
found  it  easy  to  enforce  respect  and  curb  impertinence.— 
Edinburgh  Review. 

The  Turban  in  Arabia. 

A  fashionable  Arab  will  wear  fifteen  caps  one  above  the 
other,  some  of  which  are  linen,  but  the  greater  part  of  which 
are  thick  cloth  or  cotton.  That  which  covers  the  whole  is 
richly  embroidered  with  gold,  and  inwrought  with  texts  or 
passages  from  the  Koran.  Over  all  there  is  wrapped  a  sash 
or  large  piece  of  muslin,  with  the  ends  hanging  down,  and 
ornamented  with  silk  or  gold  fringe.  This  useless  encum- 


160 

brance  is  considered  a  mark  of  respect  towards  superiors.  It 
is  also  used,  as  the  beard  was  formerly  in  Europe,  to  indicate 
literary  merit;  and  those  who  affect  to  be  thought  men  of  learn- 
ing, discover  their  pretensions  by  the  size  of  their  turbans. 
No  part  of  oriental  costume  is  so  variable  as  this  covering  for 
the  head.  Niebuhr  has  given  illustrations  of  forty-eight  dif- 
ferent ways  of  wearing  it. — King . 


Queen  Elizabeth's  Dresses. 

The  list  of  the  queen's  wardrobe,  in  1600,  shows  us  that  she 
had  then  only  99  robes,  126  kirtles,  269  gowns  (round,  loose 
and  French),  136  fore  parts,  125  petticoats,  27  fans,  96 
cloaks,  83  safe  guards,  85  doublets,  18  lap  mantles. 


Absurdities  of  the  Toilet. 

The  ladies  of  Japan  gild  their  teeth ;  those  of  the  Indies 
paint  them  red ;  while  in  Guzerat  the  test  of  beauty  is  to 
render  them  sable.  In  Greenland  the  women  used  to  color 
their  faces  blue  and  yellow.  The  Chinese  torture  their  feet 
into  the  smallest  possible  dimensions.  The  ancient  Peruvians 
used  to  flatten  their  heads ;  among  other  nations,  the  mothers, 
in  a  similar  way,  maltreat  the  nose  of  their  offspring. 


Gambling  for  Fingers. 

Such  is  the  passion  among  the  Chinese  for  gambling,  that 
when  they  have  lost  all  their  money  they  will  stake  houses, 
lands,  their  wives,  the  clothes  on  their  backs.  Those  who 
have  nothing  more  to  lose  will  collect  around  a  table  and 
actually  play  for  their  fingers,  which  they  will  cut  off  recipro- 
cally with  frightful  stoicism. — Hue's  Chinese  Empire. 


161 


Pigmies. 

"Among  vulgar  errors  is  set  down  this,  that  there  is  a 
nation  of  pigmies,  not  above  two  or  three  feet  high,  and  thax  ^ 
they  solemnly  set  themselves  in  battle  to  fight  against  the 
cranes. " — Strabo. 

' '  Strabo  thought  this  a  fiction  ;  and  our  age,  which  has 
fully  discovered  all  the  wonders  of  the  world,  as  fully  declares 
it  to  be  one." — Brand. 

This  refers  to  accounts  of  the  Pechinians  of  Ethiopia,  who 
are  represented  of  small  stature,  and  as  being  accustomed 
every  year  to  drive  away  the  cranes  which  flocked  to  their 
country  in  the  winter.  They  are  portrayed  on  ancient  gems 
as  mounted  on  cocks  or  partridges,  to  fight  the  cranes  ;  or 
carrying  grasshoppers,  and  leaning  on  staves  to  support  the 
burden. 

The  Letter  "M"  and  the  Napoleons. 

The  "  Frankforter  Journal,"  of  September  zist,  1870, 
remarked,  that  among  other  superstitions  peculiar  to  the 
Napoleons,  is  that  of  regarding  the  letter  M  as  ominous,  either 
of  good  or  of  evil,  and  it  took  the  pains  to  make  the  follow- 
ing catalogue  of  men,  things  and  events,  the  names  of  which 
begin  with  M,  with  the  view  of  showing  that  the  two  emperors 
of  France  had  cause  for  considering  the  letter  a  red  or  a  black 
one,  according  to  circumstances. 

It  says,  "Marboeuf  was  the  first  to  recognize  the  genius  of 
Napoleon  I.  at  the  military  college.  Marengo  was  the  first 
great  battle  won  by  General  Bonaparte,  and  Melas  made  room 
for  him  in  Italy.  Mortier  was  one  of  his  best  generals, 
Moreau  betrayed  him,  and  Marat  was  the  first  martyr  to  his 
cause.  Marie  Louise  shared  his  highest  fortunes  ;  Moscow 
was  the  abyss  of  ruin  into  which  he  fell.  Metternich  van- 
quished him  in  the  field  ot  diplomacy.  Six  marshals  (Mas- 


162 

sena,  Mortie,  Marmont,  Macdonald,  Murat,  Moncey)  and 
twenty-six  generals  of  division  under  Napoleon  I.  had  the 
letter  M  for  their  initial.  Marat,  Duke  of  Bassano,  was  his 
most  trusted  counsellor.  His  first  battle  was  that  of  Mon- 
tenotte ;  his  last,  Mont  St.  Jean,  as  the  French  term  Waterloo. 
He  won  the  battles  of  Millesimo,  Mondovi,  Montmirail  and 
Montereau  ;  then  came  the  storming  of  Montmartre.  Milan 
was  the  first  enemy's  capital,  and  Moscow  the  last,  into  which 
he  entered  victorious.  He  lost  Egypt  through  Menou,  and 
employed  Miellis  to  take  Pius  VIII.  prisoner.  Mallet  con- 
spired against  him  ;  Murat  was  the  first  to  desert  him,  then 
Marmont.  Three  of  his  ministers  were  Maret,  Montalivet 
and  Mallieu;  his  first  charmberlaind  was  Montesquien.  His 
last  halting  place  in  France  was  Malmaison.  He  surrendered 
to  Captain  Maitland,  and  his  companions  at  St.  Helena  were 
Montholon  and  his  valet  Marchand. " 

If  we  turn  to  the  career  of  his  nephew,  Napoleon  III.,  we 
find  the  same  letter  no  less  prominent,  and  it  is  said  that  he 
attached  even  greater  importance  to  its  mystic  influence  than 
did  his  uncle. 

The  Physician's  Symbol. 

De  Paris  tells  us  that  the  Physician  of  the  present  day  con- 
tinues to  prefix  to  his  prescriptions  the  letter  R,  which  is 
generally  supposed  to  mean  Recipe,  but  which  is,  in  truth,  a 
relic  of  the  astrological  symbol  of  Jupiter,  formerly  used  as  a 
species  of  superstitious  invocation. 

Chinese  Giants. 

The  Chinese  pretend  to  have  men  among  them  so  prodi- 
gious as  fifteen  feet  high.  Melchior  Nunnez,  in  his  letters 
from  India,  speaks  of  porters  who  guarded  the  gates  of  Pekin, 


163 


who  were  of  that  immense  height ;  and  in  a  letter  dated  in 
1555,  he  avers  that  the  emperor  of  that  country  entertained 
and  fed  five  hundred  of  such  men  for  archers  of  his  guard. 
Hakewill,  in  his  '•  Apologie,"  1627,  repeats  this  story.  Pur- 
chas,  in  his  "  Pilgrimes,"  1625,  refers  to  a  man  in  China  who 
' '  was  cloathed  with  a  tyger's  skin,  the  hayre  outward,  his 
arms,  head  and  legges  bare,  with  a  rude  pole  in  his  hand  ; 
well-shaped,  seeming  ten  palmes  or  spans  long ;  his  hayre 
hanging  on  his  shoulders." 

Trying  Land  Titles  in  Hindostan. 

According  to  the  "Asiatic  Researches,"  a  very  curious 
mode  of  trying  the  titles  of  land  is  practised  in  Hindostan  : 
Two  holes  are  dug  in  the  disputed  spot,  in  each  of  which  the 
lawyer  for  the  plaintiff  and  the  lawyer  for  the  defendant  put 
one  of  their  legs,  and  remain  there  until  one  of  them  is  tired 
or  complains  of  being  stung  by  the  insects,  in  which  case  his 
client  is  defeated.  In  this  country  it  is  the  client,  and  not 
the  lawyer,  who/w/s  his  foot  into  it. 

An  Asylum  for  Destitute  Cats. 

Of  all  the  curious  charitable  institutions  in  the  world,  th« 
most  curious,  probably,  is  the  Cat  Asylum  at  Aleppo,  which 
is  attached  to  one  of  the  mosques  there,  and  was  founded  by  a 
misanthropic  old  Turk,  who,  being  possessed  of  large  granaries, 
was  much  annoyed  by  rats  and  mice,  to  rid  himself  of  which 
he  employed  a  legion  of  cats,  who  so  effectually  rendered  him 
service,  that  in  return  he  left  them  a  sum  in  the  Turkish  funds, 
with  strict  injunctions  that  all  destitute  and  sickly  cats  should 
be  provided  for  till  such  time  as  they  took  themselves  off 
again.  In  1 84  5,  when  a  famine  was  raging  in  all  North  Syria, 


164 


when  scores  of  poor  people  were  dropping  down  in  the  streets 
and  dying  there,  from  sheer  exhaustion  and  want,  men  might 
daily  be  encountered  carrying  away  sack  loads  of  cats  to  be 
well  fed  on  the  proceeds  of  the  last  will  and  testament  of  that 
vagabond  old  Turk. 

Treasure  Digging. 

A  patent  passed  the  great  seal  in  the  fifteenth  year  of  James 
I.  "to  allow  to  Mary  Middlemore,  one  of  the  maydes  of 
honor  to  our  dearest  consort  Queen  Anne  (of  Denmark),  and 
her  deputies,  power  and  authority  to  enter  into  theabbiesof 
St.  Albans,  St.  Edmunsbury,  Glassenbury  and  Ramsay,  and 
into  all  lands,  houses  and  places,  within  a  mile  belonging  to 
said  abbies,  there  to  dig  and  search  after  treasure  supposed  to 
be  hidden  in  such  places. " 

House  of  Hen's  Feathers. 

There  exists  at  Pekin  a  phalanstery  which  surpasses  in 
eccentrictity  all  that  the  fertile  imagination  of  Fourier  could 
have  conceived.  It  is  called  Ki-mao-fan  ;  that  is,  "  House  of 
Hen's  Feathers."  This  marvellous  establishment  is  simply 
composed  of  one  great  hall,  the  floor  of  which  is  covered  over 
its  whole  extent  with  one  vast,  thick  layer  of  feathers. 
Mendicants  and  vagabonds  who  have  no  other  domicile  come 
to  pass  the  night  in  this  immense  dormitoy.  Men,  women 
and  children,  old  and  young,  are  admitted  without  exception. 
Every  one  settles  himself,  and  makes  his  nest  as  well  as  he 
can  for  the  night  in  this  ocean  of  feathers.  When  day  dawns 
he  must  quit  the  premises,  and  an  officer  of  the  company 
stands  at  the  door  to  receive  the  rent  of  one  sapeck  (one-fifth 
of  a  farthing)  each  for  the  night's  lodging.  In  deference,  no 


165 


doubt,  to  the  principle  of  equality,  half  places  are  not  allowed, 
and  a  child  must  pay  the  same  as  a  grown  person. 

On  the  first  establishment  of  this  eminently  philanthropic 
institution,  the  managers  of  it  furnished  each  of  the  guests 
with  a  covering  ;  but  it  was  found  necessary  to  modify  this 
regulation,  for  the  communist  company  got  into  the  habit  of 
carrying  off  their  coverlets  to  sell  them,  or  to  supply  an  addi- 
tional garment  during  the  cold  weather.  It  was  necessary, 
therefore,  to  devise  some  method  of  reconciling  the  interests 
of  the  establishment  with  the  comfort  of  the  guests,  and  the 
way  in  which  the  problem  was  solved  was  this — 

An  immense  coverlet,  of  such  gigantic  dimensions  as  to 
cover  the  whole  dormitory,  was  made,  and  in  the  day-time 
suspended  from  the  ceiling  like  a  great  canopy.  When  every- 
body had  gone  to  bed — that  is  to  say,  had  lain  down  upon  the 
feathers — the  counterpane  was  let  down  by  pulleys,  the  precau- 
tion having  been  previously  taken  to  make  a  number  of  holes 
in  it  for  the  sleepers  to  put  their  heads  through  in  order  to 
escape  the  danger  of  suffocation.  As  soon  as  it  is  daylight 
the  phalansterian  coverlet  is  hoisted  up  again,  after  a  signal 
has  been  made  on  the  tam-tam  to  awaken  those  who  are 
asleep,  and  invite  them  to  draw  their  heads  back  into  the 
feathers  in  order  not  to  be  caught  by  the  neck. 

St.  George's  Cavern. 

Near  the  town  of  Moldavia,  on  the  Danube,  is  shown  the 
cavern  where  St.  George  slew  the  dragon,  from  which,  at 
certain  periods,  issue  myriads  of  small  flies,  which  tradition 
reports  to  proceed  from  the  carcass  of  the  dragon.  It  is 
thought  when  the  Danube  rises,  as  it  does  in  the  early  part  of 
the  summer,  the  caverns  are  flooded,  and  the  water  which 
remains  in  them  becomes  putrid,  and  produces  the  noxious 
fly.  But  this  supposition  appears  to  be  at  fault,  for  the  people 


166 


closed  up  the  caverns,  and  still  they  were  annoyed  with  the 
flies.  The  latter  resemble  mosquitoes,  and  appear  in  such 
swarms  as  to  look  like  a  volume  of  smoke,  sometimes  covering 
a  space  of  six  to  seven  miles.  Covered  with  these  insects, 
horses  not  unfrequently  gallop  about  until  death  puts  an  end 
to  their  sufferings.  Shepherds  anoint  their  hands  with  a  de- 
coction of  wormwood,  and  keep  large  fires  burning  to  ptotect 
themselves  from  them. 

Remarkable  Echoes. 

In  the  gardens  of  Les  Rochas,  which  was  the  residence  of 
Madame  de  Sevigne,  is  a  remarkable  echo  which  finely  illu 
trates  the  conducting  and  reverberating  powers  of  a  flat  su 
face.  The  chateau  is  situated  near  the  old  town  of  Vitre.  A 
broad  gravel  walk  on  a  dead  flat  conducts  through  the  garden 
to  the  house.  In  the  centre  of  this,  on  a  particular  spot,  the 
listener  is  placed  at  the  distance  of  about  ten  or  twelve  yards 
from  another  person,  who,  similarly  placed  addresses  him  in 
a  low  and,  in  the  common  acceptation  of  the  term,  inaudible 
whisper,  when,  "Lo  !  what  myriads  rise  !  "  for  immediately, 
from  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of  invisible  tongues, 
starting  from  the  earth  beneath,  or  as  if  every  pebble  was 
gifted  with  powers  of  speech,  the  sentence  is  repeated  with  a 
slight  hissing  sound,  not  unlike  the  whirling  of  small  shot 
through  the  air.  On  removing  from  this  spot,  however  trifling 
the  distance,  the  intensity  of  the  repetition  is  sensibly  dimin- 
ished, and  within  a  few  feet  ceases  to  be  heard.  Under  the 
idea  that  the  ground  was  hollow  beneath,  the  soil  has  been 
dug  up  to  a  considerable  depth,  but  without  discovering  any 
clue  to  the  solution  of  the  mystery. 

An  echo  in  Woodstock  Park,  Oxfordshire,  repeats  seven- 
teen syllables  by  day  and  twenty  by  night.  One  on  the  bank 
of  the  Lago  del  Lupo,  above  the  fall  of  Terni,  repeats  fifteen. 


167 


The  most  remarkable  echo  known  is  one  on  the  north  side 
of  Shipley  church,  in  Sussex,  which  distinctly  repeats  twenty- 
one  syllables.  In  the  Abbey  church  at  St.  Albans  is  a  curious 
echo.  The  tick  of  a  watch  may  be  heard  from  one  end  of 
the  church  to  the  other.  In  Gloucester  Cathedral  a  gallery 
of  an  octagonal  form  conveys  a  whisper  seventy- five  feet 
across  the  nave. 

In  the  Cathedral  of  Girgenti,  in  Sicily,  the  slightest  whisper 
is  borne  with  perfect  distinctness  from  the  great  door  to  the 
cornice  behind  the  high  altar,  a  distance  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  feet.  In  the  whispering  gallery  of  St.  Paul's,  London, 
the  faintest  sound  is  faithfully  conveyed  from  one  side  of  the 
dome  to  another,  but  is  not  heard  at  any  intermediate  point. 

In  the  Manfroni  Palace  at  Venice  is  a  square  room,  about 
twenty-five  feet  high,  with  a  concave  roof,  in  which  a  person 
standing  in  the  centre  and  stamping  gently  with  his  foot  on 
the  floor,  hears  the  sound  repeated  a  great  many  times ;  but 
as  his  position  deviates  from  the  centre,  the  reflected  sounds 
grow  fainter,  and  at  a  short  distance  wholly  cease.  The 
same  phenomenon  occurs  in  a  large  room  of  the  library  of 
the  Museum  at  Naples. 

Moving  Gods. 

The  Italian  temples  were  celebrated  tor  their  moving  gods. 
In  the  fane  of  the  two  fortunes  at  Antium,  the  goddess  moved 
her  arms  and  head  when  that  solemnity  was  required.  So  at 
Prseneste,  the  figures  of  the  youthful  Jupiter  and  Juno,  lying 
in  the  lap  of  Fortune,  moved,  and  thereby  excited  awe.  The 
marble  Servius  Tullius  is  said  to  have  shaded  his  eyes  with  his 
hand  whenever  that  remarkably  strong-minded  woman,  his 
daughter  and  murderess,  passed  before  him.  When  the  Athe- 
nians were  tardy  in  deserting  their  capital,  and  taking  to  the 
ships  for  flight,  it  is  said  that  the  sacred  wooden  dragon  of 


168 

Minerva  rolled  himself  out  of  the  temple  and  down  into  the 
sea,  as  though  to  indicate  to  the  people  the  direction  in 
which  safety  was  to  be  secured.  — Dr.  Doran. 

Roving  Tinkers. 

In  the  Irish  county  of  Donegal  there  is  a  tradition  antago- 
nistic to  the  race  of  tinkers.  The  alleged  cause  of  this  is  the 
belief  that,  when  the  blacksmith  was  ordered  to  make  nails 
for  the  Cross,  he  refused,  but  that  the  tinker  consented. 
Hence  he  and  his  race  had  cast  on  them  the  doom  of  being 
perpetual  wanderers,  without  any  roof  to  cover  them. 

The  Freischutz. 

The  free-shooters  is  the  name  given  in  the  legend  to  a  hunter 
or  marksman  who,  by  entering  into  a  compact  with  the  devil, 
procured  balls,  six  of  which  infallibly  hit,  however  great  the 
distance,  while  the  seventh,  or,  according  to  some,  one  of 
the  seven,  belonged  to  the  devil,  who  directed  it  at  his 
pleasure.  Legends  of  this  nature  were  rife  among  the  troop- 
ers of  Germany  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  and 
during  the  thirty  years'  war.  The  story  was  adapted,  in 
1843,  to  the  opera  composed  by  Weber  in  1821,  which  has 
made  it  known  in  all  civilized  countries. 

Moon-struck. 

In  the  i2istPsalm  it  is  written  of  those  who  put  their  trust 
in  God's  protection,  "The  sun  shall  not  smite  thee  by  day, 
nor  the  moon  by  night."  The  allusion  to  the  moon  is  ex- 
plained by  the  common  belief  in  the  East  that  exposure  to 


169 


the  moon's  rays  while  sleeping  is  injurious.  Travelers  in 
oriental  countries  have  noticed  that  when  the  natives  slept 
out  of  doors  they  invariably,  if  the  moon  was  shining,  cov- 
ered their  faces. 

Curious  Locality  for  Saying  Prayers. 

Francis  Atkins  was  porter  at  the  palace  gate  at  Salisbury 
from  the  time  of  Bishop  Burnet  to  the  period  of  his  death,  in 
1761,  at  the  age  of  104  years.  It  was  his  office  every  night 
to  wind  up  the  clock,  which  he  was  capable  of  performing 
regularly  till  within  a  year  of  his  decease,  though  on  the  sum- 
mit of  the  palace.  In  ascending  the  lofty  fight  of  stairs,  he 
usually  made  a  halt  at  a  particular  place  and  said  his  evening 
prayers.  He  lived  a  regular  and  temperate  life,  and  took  a 
great  deal  of  exercise  ;  he  walked  well,  and  carried  his  frame 
upright  and  well-balanced  to  the  last. 

Egyptian  Physicians. 

Montaigne  says  it  was  an  Egyptian  law  that  the  physician, 
for  th  i  first  three  days,  should  tike  charge  of  a  patient  at  the 
patient's  peril,  but  afterwards  at  his  own.  He  mentions  that, 
in  h  s  tme,  physicians  gave  their  pills  in  odd  numbers,  ap- 
pointed remarkable  days  in  the  year  for  taking  medicine, 
gathered  their  simples  at  certain  hours,  assumed  austere  and 
even  severe  looks,  and  prescribed,  among  their  choice  drugs, 
the  left  foot  of  a  tortoise,  the  liver  of  a  mole,  and  blood 
drawn  from  under  the  wing  of  a  white  pigeon. 

Not  Divine  until  Smeared  with  Red  Paint. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  village  of  Balonda,  in  Africa, 
manufacture  their  idols  by  rudely  carving  a  head  upon  a 


170 

crooked  stick.  There  is  nothing  divine  about  the  idol, 
however,  until  it  is  dotted  over  with  a  mixture  of  medicine 
and  red  ochre. — Livingstone. 

Gipsy  Reticence. 

A  gipsy  will  never  give  a  history  of  himself  nor  of  his  race. 
"X.  "  My  father  is  a  crow,  and  my  mother  a  magpie,"  is  fre- 
q^ently  the  only  answer  obtained. 

Carrying  Coals  to  Newcastle. 

The  old  North  of  England  phrase,  "To  carry  coals  to 
Newcastle,''  finds  its  parallel  in  the  Persian  taunt  of  "carry- 
ing pepper  to  Hindostan,"  and  in  the  Hebrew,  "To  carry 
oil  to  the  City  of  Olives." 

Mammoth  Pawnbroker's  Shop. 

The  Monte  de  piete,  in  Paris,  established  by  royal  com- 
mand in  1717,  often  has  in  its  possession  forty  casks  filled 
with  gold  watches  that  have  been  pledged. 

Half-Penny  and  Farthing. 

In  1060,  when  William  the  Conqueror  began  to  reign,  the 
penny  was  cast  with  a  deep  cross,  so  that  it  might  be  broken 
in  half,  as  a  half-penny,  or  in  quarters,  for/0#r-things  or  far- 
things, as  we  now  call  them. 

Jin  Egg  Mistaken  for  a  Pearl. 

Linnaeus  announced  to  the  king  and  council,  in  1761,  that 
he  had  discovered  an  art  by  which  mussels  might  be  made  to 


171 

produce  pearls.  In  the  year  1 763  it  was  said,  in  the  German 
newspapers  that  Linnaeus  was  ennobled  on  account  of  his 
discovery,  and  that  he  bore  a  pearl  in  his  coat-of-arms.  Both 
statements  were  false.  His  patent  of  nobi!i:y  makes  no  men- 
tion of  the  pearl  discovery,  and  what  in  his  arms  has  b:%en 
taken  for  a  pearl  is  an  egg,  which  is  meant  to  represent  all 
nature,  after  the  manner  of  the  ancient  Egyptians. 

Spacious  Halls. 

The  old  English  halls  were  sometimes  so  spacious  as  to  ad- 
mit of  a  knight  riding  up  to  the  high  table,  as  the  champion 
of  England  was  accustomed  to  do  at  the  coronation.  Chaucer 
says — 

"  In  at  the  hall  door  all  suddenly 
There  came  a  knight  upon  a  steed, 
And  up  he  rideth  to  the  high  board." 

Medallions  only  for  the  Royal. 

Medallions,  prior  to  the  time  of  Hadrian,  are  rare  and  of 
great  value,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  most  famous  being 
a  gold  medallion  of  Augustus  Caesar.  Of  the  Roman  medal- 
lions, some  were  struck  by  order  of  the  emperors — some  by 
order  of  the  senate.  No  portrait  of  a  person  not  princely 
occurs  on  any  ancient  medal — a  remarkable  circumstance, 
considering  the  numerous  contemporary  poets,  historians 
and  philosophers. 

The  Queen's  Vow. 

Catherine  de  Medicis  made  a  vow,  that  if  some  enterprises 
which  she  had  undertaken  terminated  successfully,  she  would 
send  a  pilgrim  on  foot  to  Jerusalem,  and  that  at  every  three 


172 

steps  he  advanced  he  should  go  one  step  back.  A  citizen  of 
Verberic  offered  to  accomplish  the  queen's  vow  most  scrupu- 
lously, and  her  majesty  promised  him  an  adequate  recompense. 
She  was  well  assured,  by  constant  inquiries,  that  he  fulfilled 
his  engagement  with  exactness,  and  on  his  return  he  received 
a  considerable  sum  of  money  and  was  ennobled. 

Swearing  on  the  Book. 

In  testimony,  oaths  have  always  been  associated  withsome^ 
thing  to  be  touched  or  kissed.  In  England  people  used  to 
kiss  their  thumbs  instead  of  the  Bible,  and  so  supposed  that 
they  had  saved  their  consciences.  A  rustic,  in  one  of  Mr. 
Meredith's  novels  says,  "I  swore,  but  not  upon  oath,"  mean- 
ing that  he  had  kissed  his  thumb,  not  the  book.  Arthur 
Orton,  in  the  Bush,  laid  his  hand  on  a  copy  of  Sheridan's 
plays,  "which,  though  not  a  Bible,  bore  a  cross."  So  Zeus 
lays  his  hand  on  the  earth,  in  Homer,  when  he  swears  by  that 
planetary  body.  People  had  to  touch  relics  when  they 
swore  in  the  Middle  Ages,  as  in  the  famous  oath  of  Harold. 
The  Danes,  when  they  invaded  England,  were  ready  to  take 
any  oath  with  impunity,  save  that  of  touching  a  certain 
sacred  ring  or  armlet.  Hamlet  made  his  comrades  lay  their 
hands  on  the  blade  of  his  sword. 

Chinese  Oath. 

At  the  Thames  public  office,  in  London,  some  years  ago, 
two  Chinese  sailors  were  examined  on  a  charge  of  assaulting 
another  Chinese  sailor.  The  complainant  was  examined 
according  to  the  custom  of  their  country.  A  Chinese  saucer 
being  given  to  him,  and  another  to  the  interpreter,  they  both 
advanced  toward  the  window,  directed  theireyesto  heaven, 


173 

and  repeated  in  their  own  tongue  the  following  :  "In  the 
face  of  God  I  break  this  saucer  ;  if  it  comes  together  again, 
Chinaman  has  told  a  lie,  and  expects  not  to  live  five  days  ;  if 
it  remains  asunder,  Chinaman  has  told  the  truth,  and  escapes 
the  vengeance  of  the  Almighty."  They  then  smashed  the 
saucers  in  pieces  on  the  floor,  and  returned  to  their  places  to 
be  examined. 

Color  of  the  Hat  for  Cardinals. 

Innocent  IV.  first  made  the  hat  the  symbol  or  cognizance 
of  the  cardinals,  enjoining  them  to  wear  a  red  hat  at  the  cere- 
monies and  processions,  in  token  of  their  being  ready  to  spill 
their  blood  for  the  Saviour. 

Cat-  Concert. 

Some  years  ago  there  was  a  cat-concert  held  in  Paris.  It 
was  called  "Concert  Miaulant,"  from  the  mewing  of  the 
animals.  They  were  trained  by  having  their  tails  pulled  every 
time  a  certain  note  was  struck,  and  the  unpleasant  remem- 
brance caused  the  mto  mew  each  time  they  heard  the  sound 
again. 

Mob  Wisdom. 

A  singular  instance  of  a  mob  cheating  themselves  by  their 
own  headlong  impetuosity  is  to  be  found  in  the  life  of  Wood- 
ward, the  comedian.  On  one  occasion,  when  he  was  in 
Dublin,  and  lodged  opposite  the  Parliament  House,  a  mob, 
I  who  were  making  the  members  swear  to  oppose  an  unpopular 
bill,  called  out  to  his  family  to  throw  them  a  Bible  out  of  the 
window.  Mr.  Woodward  was  frightened,  for  they  had  no 
such  book  in  the  house,  but  he  threw  them  out  a  volume  of 
Shakespeare,  telling  the  mob  they  were  welcome  to  it.  They 


174 

gave  him  three  cheers,  swore  the  members  upon  the  book,  and 
afterwards  returned  it  without  having  discovered  its  character. 

Queer  Arctic  Music. 

One  of  the  greatest  curiosities  in  the  arctic  regions  is  the 
music  which  the  traveler  has  with  him  wherever  he  goes. 
The  moisture  exhaled  from  his  body  is  at  once  condensed  and 
frozen,  and  falls  to  the  ground  in  the  form  of  hard  spikes  of 
crystals,  which  keep  up  a  constant  and  not  unpleasing  clatter. 

Fineness  of  Indian  Muslins. 

At  the  time  of  the  Great  Exhibition  of  1851,  the  local  com- 
mittee of  Dacca,  in  India,  gave  notice  that  they  would  award 
prizes  for  the  best  piece  of  muslin  that  could  be  woven  in 
time  for  the  Exhibition.  The  piece  which  received  the  first 
prize  was  ten  yards  long  and  one  yard  wide,  weighed  only 
three  ozs.  two  dwts. ,  and  could  be  passed  through  a  very 
small  ring. — Prof.  Royle. 

Mummies  Converted  into  Paint. 

Few  persons  are  aware  that  veritable  Egyptian  mummies 
are  ground  into  paint.  In  Europe  mummies  are  used  for 
this  purpose — the  asphaltum  with  which  they  are  impregnated 
being  of  a  quality  far  superior  to  that  which  can  elsewhere  be 
obtained,  and  producing  a  peculiar  brownish  tint  when  made 
into  paint,  which  is  highly  prized  by  distinguished  artists. 
The  ancient  Egyptians,  when  they  put  away  their  dead, 
wrapped  them  in  clothes  saturated  with  asphaltum,  and  could 
never  have  realized  the  fact  that  ages  after  they  had  been  laid 
in  the  tombs  and  pyramids  along  the  Nile,  their  dust  would 


175 


be  used  in  painting  pictures  in  a  country  then  undiscovered, 
and  by  artists  whose  languages  were  unknown  to  them. 

Swallowed  by  an  Earthquake  and  Thrown 
out  Again. 

A  tombstone  in  the  island  of  Jamaica  has  the  following 
inscription:  "Here  lieth  the  body  of  Lewis  Galdy,  Esq., 
who  died  on  the  22d  of  September,  1737,  aged  80.  He  was 
born  at  Montpellier,  in  France,  which  place  he  left  for  his 
religion,  and  settled  on  this  island,  where,  in  the  great  earth- 
quake, 1672,  he  was  swallowed  up,  and  by  the  wonderful 
providence  of  God,  by  a  second  shock  was  thrown  out  into 
the  sea,  where  he  continued  swimming  until  he  was  taken  up 
by  a  boat,  and  thus  miraculously  preserved.  He  afterwards 
lived  in  great  reputation,  and  died  universally  lamented. " 

Scripture  Prices. 

Abraham  paid  400  shekels  of  silver  ($200)  for  a  piece  of 
land  for  a  burying-place.  In  Solomon's  time  (i  Kings  x.  29) 
it  is  mentioned  that  the  price  of  a  chariot  from  Egypt  was  600 
shekels  of  silver  (1250).  The  price  of  a  horse  was  150 
shekels  (about  $72). — Wells. 

Manufacturing  Feat. 

In  1811  a  gentleman  made  a  bet  of  one  thousand  guineas 
that  he  would  have  a  coat  made  in  a  single  day,  from  the  first 
process  of  shearing  the  sheep  till  its  completion  by  the  tailor. 
The  wager  was  decided  at  Newbury,  England,  on  the  25th  of 
June  in  that  year,  by  Mr.  John  Coxeter,  of  Greenham  mills, 
near  that  town.  At  five  o'clock  that  morning  Sir  John 


176 

Throckmorton  presented  two  Southdown  sheep  to  Mr.  Coxe- 
ter,  and  the  sheep  were  shorn,  the  wool  spun,  the  yarn 
spooled,  warped,  loomed  and  wove,  the  cloth  burred,  milled, 
rowed,  dried,  sheared  and  pressed,  and  put  into  the  hands 
of  the  tailors  by  four  o'clock  that  afternoon.  At  twenty  min- 
utes past  six  the  coat,  entirely  finished,  was  handed  by  Mr. 
Coxeter  to  Sir  John  Throckmorton,  who  appeared  with  it 
before  more  than  five  thousand  spectators,  who  rent  the  air 
with  acclamations  at  this  remarkable  instance  of  despatch. 

Wall  Paper  Pattern. 

In  the  Great  Exhibition  at  London,  in  1851,  a  single  pat- 
tern of  wall  paper,  representing  a  chase  in  a  forest,  attracted 
much  attention.  To  produce  the  pattern,  twelve  thousand 
blocks  had  been  used. 

feathers  for  the  Ladies. 

Statistics  of  a  late  feather  sale  in  England  show  that  to  fur- 
nish material  for  that  one  sale,  at  least  9, 700  herons  or  egrets 
and  15,574  humming  birds  must  have  been  killed. 

A  Man  Carries  his  House  on  his  Head. 

Simeon  Ellerton,  of  Craike,  Durham,  died  in  1799,  aged 
104.  This  man,  in  his  day,  was  a  noted  pedestrian,  and 
before  the  establishment  of  regular  "Posts,"  was  frequently 
employed  in  walking  commissions,  from  the  northern  coun- 
ties to  London  and  other  places,  which  he  executed  with  fidel- 
ity and  despatch.  Helivedina  neat  stone  cottage  of  his  own 
erecting,  and,  what  is  remarkable,  he  had  literally  carried  his 
house  on  his  head.  It  was  his  constant  practice  to  bring  back 


m 

with  him  from  every  journey  which  he  undertook,  some  suit- 
able stone,  or  other  material  for  his  purpose,  and  which,  not 
unfrequently,  he  carried  40  or  50  miles  on  his  head. 

Queen  Anne's  Farthings. 

The  farthings  of  Queen  Anne  have  attained  a  celebrity  from 
the  large  prices  sometimes  given  for  them  by  collectors. 
Their  rarity,  however,  has  been  much  overrated;  it  was, 
indeed,  long  a  popular  notion  that  only  three  farthings  were 
struck  in  her  reign,  of  which  two  were  in  public  keeping, 
while  a  third  was  still  going  about,  and,  if  recovered, 
would  bring  a  fabulous  price.  The  Queen  Anne  farthings 
were  designed  by  a  German  name  Crocker  or  Croker, 
principal  engraver  to  the  mint.  They  were  only  patterns  of 
an  intended  coin,  and,  though  never  put  into  circulation,  are 
by  no  means  exceedingly  rare. 

JVo  Lead  in  Lead  Pencils. 

Lead  pencils  contain  no  lead.  Lead  pencil  is  as  much  a 
misnomer  as  it  would  be  to  call  a  horse  a  cow.  Red  lead  is 
an  oxide  of  lead,  and  white  lead  is  a  carbonate  of  lead,  but 
the  black  lead  used  in  pencils  is  neither  a  metal  nor  a  compound 
of  metal.  It  is  plumbago  or  graphite,  one  of  the  forms  of 
carbon. 

Whalebone. 

This  substance  is  improperly  named,  since  it  has  none  of 
the  properties  of  bone;  its  correct  name  is  baleen.  It  is 
found  attached  to  the  upper  jaw,  and  serves  to  strain  the  water 
which  the  whale  takes  into  its  mouth,  and  to  retain  the  small 
animals  upon  which  it  subsists.  For  this  purpose  the  baleen 


is  abundant,  sometimes  eight  hundred  pieces  in  one  whale, 
placed  across  each  other  at  regular  distances,  with  the  fringed 
edge  towards  the  mouth. 

Light  from  Potatoes. 

The  emission  of  light  from  the  common  potato,  when  in  a 
state  of  decomposition,  is  sometimes  very  striking.  Dr. 
Phipson,  in  his  work  on  "Phosphorescence,"  mentions  a 
case  in  which  the  light  thus  emitted  from  a  cellarful  of  these 
vegetables  was  so  strong  as  to  lead  an  officer  on  guard  at 
Strasburg  to  believe  that  the  barracks  were  on  fire. 

A  Very  Long  Word. 

The  longest  Nipmuck  word  in  Eliot's  Indian  Bible  is  in  St. 
Mark  i.  40,  Wutteppesittukgussunnoowehtunkquoh,  and  signifies 
"kneeling  down  to  him." 

Cobblers'  Stalls  in  Rome. 

The  streets  of  Rome  in  the  time  of  Domitian  were  so 
blocked  up  with  cobblers'  stalls  that  he  caused  them  to  be 
removed. 

Luminous  Human  Bodies. 

Bartholin,  in  his  treatise  "De  Luce  Hominumet  Brutorum  " 
(1647),  gives  an  account  of  an  Italian  lady  whom  he  desig- 
nates as  "mulier  splendens,"  whose  body  shone  with  phos- 
phoric radiations  when  gently  rubbed  with  dry  linen;  and 
Dr.  Kane,  in  his  last  voyage  to  the  polar  regions,  witnessed 
almost  as  remarkable  a  case  of  phosphorescence.  A  few  cases 
are  recorded  by  Sir  H.  Marsh,  Professor  Donovan  and  other 


m 

undoubted   authorities,    in   which  the  human   body,  shortly 
before  death,  has  presented  a  pale,  luminous  appearance. 

Soucred  Anchors. 

The  ancient  Greek  vessels  carried  several  anchors,  one  of 
which,  called  the  "sacred  anchor,"  was  never  let  go  until 
the  ship  was  in  dire  distress. 

Anne  Boleyn's  Gloves. 

Anne  Boleyn  was  remarkably  dainty  about  her  gloves.  She 
had  a  nail  which  turned  up  at  the  sides,  and  it  was  the  delight 
of  Queen  Catherine  to  make  her  play  at  cards  without  her 
gloves,  in  order  that  the  deformity  might  disgust  King  Hal. 

Adding  Insult  to  Injury. 

This  expression  has  reached  us  from  a  fable  by  Phaedrus,  a 
Roman  author  who  lived  in  the  reign  of  Augustus  Caesar,  and 
whose  writings  were  first  discovered  to  modern  literature  in 
1596,  at  Rheims,  in  France.  The  fable  is  called  "The  Bald 
Man  and  the  Fly,"  and  reads  as  follows: — 

"A  fly  bit  the  bare  pate  of  a  bald  man,  who,  endeavoring 
to  crush  it,  gave  himself  a  heavy  blow.  Then  said  the  fly, 
jeeringly,  '  You  wanted  to  avenge  the  sting  of  a  tiny  insect 
with  death.  What  will  you  do  to  yourself,  who  have  added 
insult  to  injury?'" 

St.  Anthony's  Fire. 

St.  Anthony's  fire  is  an  inflammatory  disease  which,  in  the 
eleventh  century,  raged  violently  in  various  parts.  According 


180 

to  the  legend,  the  intercession  of  St.  Anthony  was  prayed  for, 
when  it  miraculously  ceased ;  and,  therefore,  from  that  time, 
the  complaint  has  been  called  St.  Anthony's  fire. 

Before  Houses  were  Numbered. 

Before  houses  were  numbered  it  was  a  common  practice 
with  tradesmen  not  much  known,  when  they  advertised,  to 
mention  the  color  of  their  next  neighbor's  door,  balcony  or 
lamp,  of  which  custom  the  following  copy  of  a  hand-bill  pre- 
sents a  curious  instance: — 

"Next  to  the  Golden  Door,  opposite  Great  Suffolk  street, 
near  Pall  Mall,  at  the  Barber's  Pole,  liveth  a  certain  person, 
Robert  Barker,  who  has  found  out  an  excellent  method  for 
sweating  or  fluxing  of  wiggs ;  his  prices  are  zs.  6d.  for  each 
bob,  and  3*.  for  every  tye  wigg  and  pig-tail,  ready  money. ' ' 

Monkish  Prayers. 

The  monks  used  to  say  their  prayers  no  less  than  seven 
times  in  twenty- four  hours — 

ist.  Nocturnal,  at  cock-crowing  (2  o'clock  in  the  morning). 

zd.  Matins,  at  6  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

3d.  Tierce,  at  9  o'clock  in  the  morning. 

4th.  Sext,  at  12  o'clock  noon. 

5th.  None,  at  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

6th.  Vespers,  at  6  o'clock  in  the  afternoon. 

7th.  Compline,  soon  after  7. 

Quarles  wrote  a  neat  epigram  on  the  subject— 

"For  all  our  prayers  the  Almighty  does  regard 
The  judgment  of  the  balance,  not  the  yard; 
He  loves  not  words,  but  matter ;  't  is  His  pleasure 
To  buy  His  wares  by  weight,  and  not  by  measure!* 


181 

A  Mammoth  Feast. 

Leland  mentions  a  feast  given  by  the  Archbishop  of  York, 
at  his  installation,  in  the  reign  of  Edward  IV.  There  were 
disposed  of — 300  quarters  of  wheat,  300  tuns  of  ale,  100  tuns 
of  wine,  1000  sheep,  104  oxen,  304  calves,  304  swine,  2000 
geese,  1000  capons,  400  swans,  104  peacocks,  1500  hot 
vension  pasties,  4000  cold  ones,  5000  custards,  hot  and  cold. 

Gluttony  of  the  Monks. 

The  monks  of  St.  Swithin  made  formal  complaint  to  Henry 
II.  because  the  Abbot  deprived  them  of  three  dishes  out  of 
thirteen  at  every  meal.  The  monks  of  Canterbury  had  seven- 
teen rich  and  savory  dishes  every  day. 

Ancient  Smokers. 

When  the  ancient  tower  of  Kukstatt  Abbey  fell,  tn  1779, 
Whitaker,  a  few  days  afterwards,  discovered,  embedded  in  the 
mortar  of  the  fallen  fragments,  several  little  smoking  pipes, 
such  as  were  used  in  the  reign  of  James  I.,  for  tobacco,  a 
proof  of  the  fact,  which  has  not  been  generally  recorded,  that 
long  prior  to  the  introduction  of  that  plant  from  America,  the 
practice  of  inhaling  the  smoke  of  some  indigenous  vegetable 
prevailed  in  England. 

Gipsy  Dance. 

The  gipsy  women  of  Spain  especially  and  exclusively  dance 
the  Romalis,  imported  from  the  Orient.  It  is  said  to  be  the 
voluptuous  dance  which  the  daughter  of  Herodias  danced 
before  Herod  and  his  court. 


182 

Chinese  Medical  Prescriptions. 

The  Chinese  divide  their  prescriptions  into  seven  classes : 
i.  The  great  prescription ;  2.  The  little  prescription ;  3.  The 
slow  prescription;  4.  The  prompt  prescription;  5.  The  odd 
prescription;  6.  The  even  prescription;  7.  The  double  pre- 
scription. Each  of  these  recipes  apply  to  particular  cases, 
and  the  ingredients  are  weighed  with  scrupulous  accuracy. 


Queer  Evidence  of  Divinity. 

Among  the  ancients  the  voluntary  motion  of  inanimate 
objects  was  considered  an  evidence  of  their  divinity.  When 
Juno  paid  her  celebrated  visit  to  Vulcan,  she  found  him 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  tripods,  which  moved  about 
and  performed  their  office  with  a  bustling  air  of  zealous 
activity — 

"  Full  twenty  tripeds  for  his  hall  be  framed, 
That,  placed  on  living  wheels  of  massive  gold, 
Wondrous  to  tell,  instinct  with  spirit,  roll'd 
From  place  to  place  around  the  blest  abodes, 
Self-moved,  obedient  to  the  beck  of  gods." 


Picnics  Centuries  Ago. 

Mainwaring,  in  a  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Arundel,  dated  No- 
vember 22d,  1618,  says:  "The  prince  his  birthday  has  been 
solemnized  here  by  the  few  marquises  and  lords  which  found 
themselves  here ;  and  (to  supply  the  want  of  lords)  knights 
and  squires  were  added  to  a  consultation,  wherein  it  was  re- 
solved that  such  a  number  should  meet  at  Gamiges,  and  bring 
every  man  his  dish  of  meat.  It  was  left  to  their  own  choice 
what  to  bring;  some  chose  to  be  substantial,  some  curious, 
some  extravagant.  Sir  George  Young's  invention  bore  away 


183 

the  bell,  and  that  was  four  huge  brawny  pigs,  piping  hot, 
bitted  and  harnessed  with  ropes  of  sarsiges,  all  tied  to  a 
monstrous  bag-pudding. ' ' 

Skeletons  at  Feasts. 

In  old  times  the  guests  at  an  Egyptian  feast,  when  they 
grew  hilarious,  were  called  back  to  sober  propriety  by  the  ex- 
hibition of  a  little  skeleton,  and  the  admonition  to  reflect 
upon  the  lesson  it  conveyed. 

Hair  Cutting  in  Russia. 

Among  the  lower  classes  in  Russia,  the  barber,  a  primitive 
artist,  claps  an  earthen  pot  over  the  head  and  ears,  and  trims 
off  whatever  hairprotrudes  from  the  pot. 

Antiquity  of  Tarring  and  Feathering. 

Tarring  and  feathering,  it  seems,  is  an  European  invention. 
One  of  Richard  Coeur  de  Leon's  ordinances  for  seamen  was, 
"that  if  any  man  were  taken  with  theft  and  pickery,  and 
thereof  convicted,  he  should  have  his  head  polled,  and  hot 
pitch  poured  upon  his  pate,  and  upon  that  the  feathers  of  some 
pillow  or  cushion  shaken  aloft,  that  he  might  thereby  be 
known  as  a  thief,  and  at  the  next  arrival  of  the  ships  to  any 
land  be  put  forth  of  the  company  to  seek  his  adventures  with- 
out jill^hope  of  return  unto  his  fellows." — Holinshed. 

Grinning  for  a  Wager. 

In  1796,  at  Hendon,  England,  on  Whit-Tuesday,  a  bur- 
lesque imitation  of  the  Olympic  Games  was  held.  One  prize 


184 

was  a  gold-laced  hat,  to  be  grinned  for  by  six  candidates,  who 
were  placed  on  a  platform  with  horse-collars  to  exhibit 
through.  Over  their  heads  was  printed  in  capitals — 

Detur  Tetriori ;  or, 
The  ugliest  grinner 
Shall  be  the  winner. 

Each  party  grinned  five  minutes  solus,  and  then  all  united 
in  a  grand  chorus  of  distortion.  The  prize  was  carried  off  by 
a  porter  to  a  vinegar  merchant,  though  he  was  accused  by  his 
competitors  of  foul  play  for  rinsing  his  mouth  with  verjuice. 

Eating  for  a  Wager. 

The  hand-bill,  of  which  the  subjoined  is  a  copy,  was  circu- 
lated by  the  keeper  of  the  public  house  at  which  the  gluttony 
was  to  happen,  as  an  attraction  for  all  the  neighborhood  to 
witness — 

"Bromley  in  Kent,  July  i4th,  1726. — A  strange  eating 
worthy  is  to  preform  a  Tryal  of  Skill  on  St.  James's  Day, 
which  is  the  day  of  our  Fair,  for  a  wager  of  Five  Guineas, 
viz :  he  is  to  eat  four  pounds  of  bacon,  a  bushel  of  French 
beans,  with  two  pounds  of  butter,  a  quartern  loaf,  and  to  drink 
a  gallon  of  strong  beer." 

Curious  Wagers. 

Mr.  Whalley,  an  Irish  gentleman,  for  a  wager  of  twenty 
thousand  pounds,  set  out  on  Monday,  the  azd  of  September, 
1 788,  to  walk  to  Constantinople  and  back  in  one  year.  Some 
years  ago  Sir  Henry  Liddel,  a  rich  baronet,  laid  a  consider- 
able wager  that  he  would  go  to  Lapland,  bring  home  two 
females  of  that  country,  and  two  reindeer,  in  a  given  time. 
He  performed  the  journey,  and  effected  his  purpose  in  every 


185 

respect.  The  Lapland  women  lived  with  him  about  a  year, 
but,  desiring  to  go  back  to  their  own  country,  the  baronet  fur- 
nished them  with  the  means. 

The  Jumping  Jack. 

This  toy  is  of  quite  antiquated  parentage.  In  the  tombs  of 
ancient  Egypt  figures  have  been  found  whose  limbs  were  made 
movable,  for  the  delight  of  children,  before  Moses  was  born. 

Love-handkerchiefs. 

At  one  time  it  was  the  custom  in  England  to  present  love- 
handkerchiefs.  They  were  not  more  than  three  or  four  inches 
square,  wrought  with  embroidery,  a  tassel  at  each  corner  and 
a  small  button  in  the  centre.  The  finest  of  these  favors  were 
edged  with  narrow  gold  lace  or  twist,  and  then,  being  folded 
up  in  four  cross-folds,  so  that  the  middle  might  be  seen,  they 
were  worn  by  the  accepted  lovers  in  their  hats  or  on  the 
breast.  These  tokens  of  love  became  at  last  so  much  in  vogue 
that  they  were  sold  ready-made  in  the  shops  in  Elizabeth's 
time  at  from  sixpence  to  sixteen-pence  apiece.  Tokens  were 
also  given  by  the  gentlemen,  and  accepted  by  the  ladies,  as  is 
indicated  in  an  old  comedy  of  the  time— 

"  Given  earrings  we  will  wear, 
Bracelets  of  our  lover's  hair; 
Which  they  on  our  arms  shall  twist, 
(With  our  names  carved)  on  our  wrists," 

Umbrellas. 

Umbrellas  are  an  older  invention  than  some  writers  would 
have  us  suppose.  Even  the  usually  entertained  notion  that 


186 

Jonas  Hanway  introduced  the  umbrella  into  England,  in  the 
year  1752,  is  proved  to  be  false  by  evidence  that  can  be  cited. 
Ben  Jonson  refers  to  it  by  name  in  a  comedy  produced  in 
1616 ;  and  so  do  Beaumont  and  Fletcher  in  "  Rule  a  Wife  and 
Have  a  Wife."  Swift,  in  the  "Tatler"  of  October  lyth,  1710, 
says,  in  "The  City  Shower"— 

"  The  tucked-up  seamstress  walks  with  hasty  strides, 
While  streams  run  down  her  oiled  umbrella's  sides." 

The  following  couplet  also  occurs  in  a  poem  written  by 
Gay  in  1712 — 

"  Housewives  underneath  th'  umbrella's  oily  shed 
Safe  through  the  wet  in  clinking  pattens  tread." 

It  is  probable  that  Hanway  was  the  first  man  seen  carrying 
an  umbrella  in  London. 

At  Persepohs,  in  Persia,  are  some  sculptures  supposed  to  be 
as  old  as  the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great,  and  on  one  of  these 
is  represented  a  chief  or  king,  over  whose  head  some  servants 
are  holding  an  umbrella.  At  Takht-i-Bostan  are  other  sculp- 
tures, one  of  which  is  a  king  witnessing  a  boar  hunt  attended 
by  an  umbrella-bearer.  Recent  discoveries  at  Nineveh  show 
that  the  umbrella  was  in  use  there,  it  being  common  to  the 
sculpturings,  but  always  represented  open.  The  same  is  to  be 
seen  upon  the  celebrated  Hamilton  vases  preserved  in  the 
British  Museum.  In  many  Chinese  drawings  ladies  are 
attended  by  servants  holding  umbrellas  over  their  heads. 

Loubere,  who  went  to  Siam  as  envoy  from  the  king  of 
France,  describes  the  use  of  umbrellas  as  being  governed  by 
curious  regulations.  Those  umbrellas  resembling  ours  are 
used  principally  by  the  officers  of  state ;  while  those  several 
tiers  in  height,  as  if  two  or  more  umbrellas  were  fixed  on  one 
stick,  are  reserved  for  the  king  alone.  In  Ava,  a  country 
adjacent  to  Siam,  the  king  designates  himself,  among  other 


1ST 

titles,  as  "Lord  of  the  Ebbing  and  Flowing  Tide,  King  of 
the  White  Elephant,  and  Lord  of  the  Twenty-four  Umbrellas." 
This  last  title,  although  ridiculous  to  us,  is  supposed  to  relate 
to  twenty-four  states  or  provinces  combined  under  the  rule  of 
the  king,  the  umbrella  being  especially  a  royal  emblem  in 
Ava.  The  umbrella  is  also  the  distinguishing  sign  of 
sovereignty  in  Morocco.  , 

Fashionable  Disfigurement. 

The  custom  of  dotting  the  face  with  black  patches,  of 
different  patterns,  was  introduced  into  England  and  France 
from  Arabia,  and  was  at  its  height  during  the  reign  of  Charles  I. 
The  ladies,  old  and  young,  covered  their  faces  with  black 
spots  shaped  like  suns,  moons,  stars,  hearts,  crosses  and 
lozenges,  and  some  even  carried  the  mode  to  the  extrava- 
gant extent  of  shapening  the  patches  to  represent  a  carriage 
and  horses. 

Fine  for  Insulting  a  King. 

The  use  of  gold  and  silver  was  not  unknown  to  the  Welsh 
in  842,  when  their  laws  were  collected.  The  man  who  dared 
to  insult  the  king  of  Aberfraw  was  to  pay  (besides  certain 
cows  and  a  silver  rod)  a  cup  which  would  hold  as  much  wine 
as  his  majesty  could  swallow  at  a  draught.  It  was  to  be  made 
of  gold ;  its  cover  was  to  be  as  broad  as  the  king's  face,  and 
the  whole  as  thick  as  a  goose's  egg  or  a  ploughman's  thumb- 
nail. 

True-Lovers'  Knots. 

Among  the  ancient  Northern  nations  a  knot  was  the  symbol 
of  indissoluble  love,  faith  and  friendship.  Hence  the  ancient 
runic  inscriptions  are  in  the  form  of  a  knot,  and  hence,  among 


188 

the  Northern  English  and  Scots,  who  still  retain,  in  a  great 
measure,  the  language  and  manners  of  the  ancient  Danes, 
that  curious  kind  of  knot  exists  which  is  a  mutual  present  be- 
tween the  lover  and  his  mistress,  and  which,  being  considered 
as  the  emblem  of  plighted  fidelity,  is  therefore  called  "a  true- 
love  knot."  The  name  is  not  derived,  however,  as  would  be 
naturally  supposed,  from  the  words  " true  "  and  "love,"  but 
is  formed  from  the  Danish  verb  "trulofa,"  fidem  do,  I  plight 
my  troth  or  faith.  In  Davidson's  "  Poetical  Rhapsody,"  pub- 
lished in  1611,  the  following  is  the  opening  verse  of  a  poem 
entitled  "  The  True-Love's  Knot  "— 

"  Lore  is  the  linke,  the  knot,  the  band  of  unity, 
And  all  that  love  do  love  with  their  beloved  to  be ; 
Love  only  did  decree 
To  change  this  kind  in  me." 

Hundred  Families'  Lock. 

A  common  Chinese  talisman  is  the  "hundred  families' 
lock,"  to  procure  which  a  father  goes  round  among  his  friends, 
and,  having  obtained  from  an  hundred  different  parties  a  few  of 
the  copper  coins  of  the  country,  he  himself  adds  the  balance 
to  purchase  an  ornament  or  appendage  fashioned  like  a  lock, 
which  he  hangs  on  his  child's  neck  for  the  purpose  of  figura- 
tively locking  him  to  life  and  causing  the  hundred  persons  to 
be  concerned  in  his  attaining  old  age. 

The  King's  Cock-crower. 

A  singular  custom  of  matchless  absurdity  formerly  existed 
in  the  English  court.  During  Lent  an  ancient  officer  of  the 
crown,  called  the  King's  Cock-crower,  crowed  the  hour  each 
night  within  the  precincts  of  the  palace.  On  Ash  Wednesday, 
after  the  accession  of  the  House  of  Hanover,  as  the  Prince  of 


189 

Wales  (afterwards  George  II.)  sat  down  to  supper,  this  officer 
abruptly  entered  the  apartment,  and  in  a  sound  resembling 
the  shrill  pipe  of  a  cock,  crowed  past  ten  o'clock.  The 
astonished  prince,  at  first  conceiving  it  to  be  a  premeditated 
insult,  rose  to  resent  the  affront,  but  upon  the  nature  of  the 
ceremony  being  explained  to  him,  he  was  satisfied. 

Mourning  Robes. 

Under  the  empire  male  Romans  wore  black,  and  Roman 
women  wore  white  mourning.  In  Turkey,  at  the  present  day, 
it  is  violet ;  in  China,  white ;  in  Egypt,  yellow ;  in  Ethiopia, 
brown ;  in  Europe  and  America,  black ;  it  was  white  in  Spain 
until  the  year  1498.  The  mourning  worn  by  sovereigns  and 
their  families  is  purple. 

Mole-skin  Eyebrows. 

Some  of  the  ladies  of  the  Court  of  Louis  XV.,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  patches,  rouge  and  paint  with  which  they  dis- 
figured their  faces,  were  so  whimsical  as  to  wear  eyebrows  made 
out  of  mole-skin. 

Praying  for  Revenge. 

In  North  Wales,  when  a  person  supposes  himself  highly 
injured,  it  is  not  uncommon  for  him  to  go  to  some  church 
dedicated  to  a  celebrated  saint,  as  Llan  Elian,  in  Anglesea, 
and  Clynog,  in  Carnarvonshire,  and  there  to  offer  up  his 
enemy.  He  kneels  down  on  his  bare  knees,  and  offering  a 
piece  of  money  to  the  saint,  calls  down  curses  and  misfortunes 
upon  the  offender  and  his  family  for  generations  to  come,  in 
the  most  firm  belief  that  the  imprecations  will  be  fulfilled. 
Sometimes  they  repair  to  a  sacred  well  instead  of  to  a  church. 


190 

Selling  Snails. 

The  sale  of  snails  in  the  town  of  Tivoli,  near  Rome,  is  a 
source  of  much  profit  to  the  inhabitants  of  that  district  in 
rainy  weather,  when  this  curious  edible  is  abundant  in  the 
olive  groves.  The  flavor  is  pronounced  delicious,  and  when 
artistically  cooked,  the  foreigner  does  not  long  decline  this 
much  despised  Crustacea.  The  cooked  snail  is  said  to  restore 
tone  to  the  coating  of  the  stomach  when  badly  injured  by 
strong  drink. 

Coral  and  Bells. 

A  superstitious  belief  exists  that  the  color  of  coral  is  affected 
by  the  state  of  health  of  the  wearer,  it  becoming  paler  in  dis- 
ease. Paracelsus  recommended  it  to  be  worn  around  the 
necks  of  infants  as  an  admirable  preservative  against  fits, 
charms  and  poison.  "  In  addition  to  the  supposed  virtues  of 
coral  usually  suspended  around  the  necks  of  children,  it  may 
be  remarked  that  silver  bells  are  generally  attached  to  it,  which 
are  regarded  as  mere  accompaniments  to  amuse  children  by 
their  jingle  ;  but  the  fact  is,  they  have  a  very  different  origin, 
having  been  designed  to  frighten  away  evil  spirits." — Dr. 
Paris. 

Bagging  Ms  Rival. 

Two  gentlemen,  one  a  Spaniard,  the  other  a  German,  asked 
of  Maximilian  II.  the  hand  of  his  daughter,  the  fair  Helene 
Scharfequinn,  in  marriage.  After  a  long  delay,  the  emperor 
one  day  informed  them  that,  esteeming  them  equally,  and  not 
being  able  to  bestow  a  preference,  he  should  leave  it  to  the 
force  and  address  of  the  claimants  to  decide  the  question.  He 
did  not  mean,  however,  to  risk  the  life  of  one  or  the  other, 
or  perhaps  of  both.  He  could  not,  therefore,  permit  them 


191 

to  encounter  with  offensive  weapons,  but  had  ordered  a  large 
bag  to  be  produced.  It  was  his  decree  that  whichever  suc- 
ceeded in  putting  his  rival  into  the  bag  should  have  the  hand 
of  his  daughter.  The  singular  encounter  between  the  two 
gentlemen  took  place  in  the  presence  of  the  whole  court.  The 
contest  lasted  for  more  than  an  hour.  At  length  the  Spaniard 
yielded,  and  the  German,  Ehberhard,  Baron  de  Talbert, 
having  planted  his  rival  in  the  bag,  took  it  upon  his  back  and 
gallantly  laid  it  at  the  feet  of  his  mistress,  whom  he  espoused 
the  next  day.  This  incident  is  gravely  vouched  for  by  M.  de 
St.  Foix. 

Deepened  Damnation. 

In  his  "  History  of  all  the  Heresies,"  Bernino  records  an 
instance  of  diabolical  superstition.  Pope  Theodorus  wrote 
the  sentence  of  deposition  against  the  Monothelite  secretary 
Pyrrhus  with  ink  in  which  had  been  mingled  the  blood  from 
the  sacramental  cup,  in  order  that  the  fulmination  of  the  pope 
might  possess  the  greater  potency  of  damnation. 


Ancient  Bit  of  Waggery. 

We  find  the  following  in  a  book  printed  in  1607,  entitled, 
"Pleasant  Conceits  of  old  Hobson,  the  merry  Londoner;  full 
of  Humourous  Discourses  and  Merry  Merriments:" — 

"When  the  order  of  hanging  out  lanterue  first  of  all  was 
brought  about,  the  bedell  of  the  warde  where  Maister  Hobson 
dwelt,  in  a  darke  evening,  crieing  up  and  down,  'Hang  out 
your  lanternes!  Hang  out  your  lanternes!'  using  no  other 
words,  Maister  Hobson  tookean  emptie  lanterne,  and,  accord- 
ing to  the  bedell's  call,  hung  it  out.  This  flout,  by  the  lord 
mayor,  was  taken  in  ill  part,  and  for  the  offence  Hobson  was 
sent  to  the  Counter,  but  being  released  the  next  night  follow- 


192 

ing,  thinking  to  amende  his  call,  the  bedell  cryed  out,  with  a 
loud  voice,  '  Hang  out  your  lanternes  and  candle ! '  Maister 
Hobson  hereupon  hung  out  a  lanterne  and  candle  unlighted, 
as  the  bedell  again  commanded ;  whereupon  he  was  sent  again 
to  the  Counter ;  but  the  next  night,  the  bedell  being  better 
advised,  cryed  'Hang  out  your  lanterne  and  candle-light!' 
which  Maister  Hobson  at  last  did,  to  his  great  commenda- 
tions, which  cry  of  lanterne  and  candle-light  is  in  right  man- 
ner used  to  this  day." 

A  Walking  Apothecary  Shop. 

Mr.  Samuel  Jessup,  an  opulent  grazier,  of  pill-taking 
memory,  died  at  Heckington,  England,  on  the  i7th  of  June, 
1817.  In  twenty-one  years  the  deceased  took  226,934  pills, 
supplied  by  a  respectable  apothecary  at  Bottesford,  which  was 
at  the  rate  of  10,806  pills  a  year,  or  twenty-nine  pills  each 
day ;  but  as  the  patient  began  with  a  more  moderate  appetite, 
and  increased  it  as  he  proceeded,  in  the  last  five  years  he  took 
the  pills  at  the  rate  of  seventy-eight  a  day,  and  in  the  year 
1814  he  swallowed  not  less  than  51,590.  Notwithstanding 
this,  and  the  addition  of  40,000  bottles  of  mixture  and  juleps 
and  electuaries,  extending  altogether  to  fifty-five  closely 
written  columns  of  an  apothecary's  bill,  the  deceased  lived  to 
attain  the  age  of  sixty-five  years. — Hone. 

To  Disappoint  his  Wife. 

On  the  zoth  of  May,  1736,  the  body  of  Samuel  Baldwin, 
Esq.,  was,  in  compliance  with  a  request  in  his  will,  buried, 
sans  ceremonie,  in  the  sea  at  Lymington,  Hants.  His  motive 
for  this  extraordinary  mode  and  place  of  interment  was  to 
prevent  his  wife  from  "dancing  over  his  grave,"  which  she 
had  frequently  threatened  to  do  in  case  she  survived  him. 


193 

Boots  an  Object  of  Honor. 

Among  the  Chinese  no  relics  are  more  valuable  than  the 
boots  which  have  been  worn  by  an  upright  magistrate.  In 
Davis's  interesting  description  of  the  Empire  of  China  we 
are  informed  that  whenever  a  judge  of  unusual  integrity  resigns 
his  situation,  the  people  congregate  to  do  him  honor.  If  he 
leaves  the  city  where  he  has  resided,  the  crowd  accompany 
him  from  his  residence  to  the  gates,  where  his  boots  are  drawn 
off  with  great  ceremony,  to  be  preserved  in  the  hall  of  justice. 
Their  place  is  immediately  supplied  by  a  new  pair,  which,  in 
turn,  are  drawn  off  to  make  room  for  others  before  he  has 
worn  them  five  minutes,  it  being  considered  sufficient  to  con- 
secrate them  that  he  should  have  merely  drawn  them  on. 

St.  CutJibert's  Beads. 

These  beads  were  made  from  the  single  joints  of  the  articu- 
lated stems  of  Encrinites.  The  central  perforation  permitted 
them  to  be  strung.  From  the  fancied  resemblance  of  this 
perforation  to  a  cross,  they  were  formerly  used  as  rosaries, 
and  associated  with  the  name  of  St.  Cuthbert — 

"  On  a  rock  by  Lindisfarm 
St.  Cuthbert  sits  and  toils  to  frame 
The  sea-born  beads  that  bear  his  name." 

Sating  Animals  that  have  Died  a  Natural 

Death. 

The  gypsies  in  Europe  are  very  peculiar  in  their  eating,  and 
are,  perhaps,  the  only  race  who  will  eat  animals  that  have 
died  a  natural  death.  "  Dead  pig  "  is  their  favorite  delicacy ; 
and  one  of  the  most  typical  and  most  amusing  of  the  Rom- 


194 

many  ballads  which  Borrow  has  collected,  celebrates  the 
trick  formerly  so  common  among  them  of  poisoning  a  pig 
in  order  the  next  day  to  beg  its  carcass  for  food. 

Embalmed  in  Honey. 

The  ancients  put  dead  bodies  into  honey  to  preserve  them 
from  putrefaction.  The  body  of  Agesipolis,  King  of  Sparta, 
who  died  in  Macedonia,  was  sent  home  in  honey.  The  faith- 
less Cleomenes  caused  the  head  of  Archonides  to  be  put  in 
honey,  and  had  it  always  placed  near  him  when  he  was 
deliberating  upon  any  affair  of  great  importance,  in  order  to 
fulfil  the  oath  he  had  made  to  undertake  nothing  without 
consulting  the  head.  The  body  of  the  Emperor  Justin  II. 
was  embalmed  in  honey.  The  wish  of  Democritus  to  be 
buried  in  honey  is  a  confirmation  of  the  practice. 

Perfumed  Butter. 

We  are  told  by  Plutarch  that  a  Spartan  lady  paid  a  visit  to 
Berenice,  the  wife  of  Dejotarus,  and  that  the  one  smelled  so 
much  of  sweet  ointment  and  the  other  of  butter  that  neither 
of  them  could  endure  the  other.  Was  it  customary,  there- 
fore, at  that  period,  for  the  ladies  to  perfume  themselves  with 
butter  ? 

Wine  at  Two  Millions  a  Bottle. 

Some  years  ago  wine  graced  the  table  of  the  King  of  Wurtem- 
burg,  which  had  been  deposited  in  a  cellar  at  Bremen  two 
centuries  and  a  half  before.  One  large  case  of  the  wine,  con- 
taining five  oxhoft  of  two  hundred  and  forty  bottles,  cost  five 
hundred  rix  dollars  in  1624.  Including  the  expenses  of  keep- 
ing up  the  cellar,  and  of  the  contributions,  interest  of  the 


195 


amount,  and  interest  upon  interest,  an  oxhoft  costs  at  the 
'present  time  555,657,640  rix-dollars,  and  consequently  a 
bottle  is  worth  2, 723, 81 2  rix-dollars.  The  fact  illustrates  the 
operation  of  interest,  if  it  does  not  show  the  cost  of  the  lux- 
ury. — Bombaugh. 

Opal  of  Nonius. 

The  ancients  valued  opals  very  highly.  The  Roman 
senator,  Nonius,  preferred  exile  to  giving  up  an  opal  to  Mark 
Antony.  This  opal  was  still  to  be  seen  in  the  days  of  Pliny, 
who  ascribed  to  it  a  value  of  more  than  $500,000. 

Children's  Day  in  Japan. 

There  is  a  children's  day  in  Japan  on  the  fifth  day  of  the 
fifth  month,  when  a  flag  of  gay  colors  is  hung  from  every 
house  where  there  are  children.  The  family  and  friends  have 
a  feast,  and,  among  the  articles  of  food  are  long,  narrow  rice 
cakes,  upon  each  of  which  a  sweet-flavored  rush-leaf  is  fast- 
ened by  straws.  Where  there  are  no  children  there  may  be  a 
family  party,  but  no  flag  can  be  exhibited.  On  this  day  orna- 
ments made  of  paper,  of  five  different  colors,  are  bound  into 
balls  and  hung  up  in  the  house  as  a  charm  against  sickness. 

Cock-Fighting  among  the  Ancient  Greeks. 

yEschines  reproaches  Timarchus  forspending  the  whole  day 
in  gaming  and  cock-fighting.  Cock-fights  were  represented 
by  the  Greeks  on  coins  and  cut  stones.  Mr.  Pegge  caused 
engravings  to  be  made  of  two  gems  in  the  collection  of  Sir 
William  Hamilton,  on  one  of  which  is  seen  a  cock  in  the 
humble  attitude  of  defeat,  with  its  head  hanging  down,  and 
another  in  the  attitude  of  victory,  with  an  ear  of  corn  in  its 


196 


bill  as  the  object  of  contest.  On  the  other  stone  two  cocks 
are  fighting,  while  a  mouse  carries  away  the  ear  of  corn,  for 
the  possession  of  which  they  had  quarreled — a  caricature 
of  law-suits,  in  which  the  greater  part  of  the  property  in  dis- 
pute falls  to  the  lawyers.  Two  cocks  in  the  attitude  of  fight- 
ing are  represented  also  on  a  lamp  found  in  Ilerculaneum. 

Colors  Most  Frequently  Hit  in  Battle. 

It  would  appear,  from  numerous  observations,  that  sol- 
diers are  hit  during  battle  according  to  the  color  of  their  dress 
in  the  following  order :  Red  is  the  most  fatal  color  ;  Austrian 
gray  is  the  least  fatal.  The  proportions  are — red,  twelve  ; 
rifle  green,  seven  ;  brown,  six  ;  Austrian  bluish-gray,  five. 

Immense  Value  Placed  upon  Gems  by  the 
Ancients. 

The  immense  value  placed  by  the  ancients  on  their  gems 
can  be  estimated  by  the  scabbard  of  Mithridates,  valued  at 
400  talents,  or  ^"7,57*  ;  the  pearl  given  by  Julius  Csesar  to 
Servillia  was  worth  .^4,800;  that  swallowed  by  Cleopatra 
valued  at  ^"5,000;  and  the  pearls  and  emeralds  worn  by 
Lollia  Paulina,  wife  of  Caligula,  valued  at  ,£320,000. 

Candlel  Cock. 

Alfred  the  Great  noted  the  time  by  the  gradual  burning 
down  of  candles  colored  in  rings.  He  had  six  tapers  made, 
each  twelve  inches  long,  and  each  divided  into  twelve  parts 
or  inches.  Three  of  these  would  burn  for  one  hour,  and 
the  six  tapers,  lighted  one  after  the  other,  would  burn  for 
twenty-four  hours. 


197 
Twins  in  Africa. 

Among  some  of  the  tribes  in  Africa  if  two  babies  come 
to  a  family  at  the  same  time  they  think  it  a  dreadful  thing. 
Nobody  except  the  family  can  go  into  the  hut  where  they 
were  born,  nor  even  use  any  of  the  things  in  it.  The  twins 
cannot  play  with  other  children,  and  the  mother  cannot 
talk  to  anyone  outside  of  the  family.  This  is  kept  up  for 
six  years.  If  the  babies  live  to  be  six  years  old,  the  re- 
strictions are  removed,  and  they  are  treated  like  other 
children. 

Right  and  Left  Hand. 

Dr.  Zinchinelli,  of  Padua,  in  an  essay  on  the  "Reasons 
why  People  use  the  Right  Hand  in  preference  to  the  Left," 
will  not  allow  custom  or  imitation  to  be  the  cause.  He 
affirms  that  the  left  arm  cannot  be  in  violent  and  continued 
motion  without  causing  pain  in  the  left  side,  because  there  is 
the  seat  of  the  heart  and  of  the  arterial  system  ;  and  that, 
therefore,  nature  herself  compels  man  to  make  use  of  the 
right  hand. 

Earliest  Traders. 

The  earliest  record  we  have  of  nations  trading  with  each 
other  occurs  in  the  Book  of  Genesis,  when  Joseph's  brethren 
sold  him  to  a  caravan  of  Ishmaelites  who  were  carrying 
spices,  balm  and  myrrh  into  Egypt.  The  balm  was  from 
Gilead  and  the  myrrh  from  Arabia.  Thus  commerce  is  of 
great  antiquity. 

The  First  Hermits. 

The  first  hermit  was  Paul,  of  Thebes,  in  Egypt,  who  lived 
about  the  year  260  ;  the  second  was  Anthony,  also  of  Egypt, 
who  died  in  345,  at  the  age  of  105. 


198 


The  First  Opera. 

The  first  composer  who  tried  his  hand  at  setting  an  opera 
to  music  was  Francisco  Bamirino,  an  Italian  artist.  The 
piece  to  which  he  affixed  the  charms  of  a  melodious  accom- 
paniment was  "The  Conversion  of  St.  Paul,"  which  was 
brought  out  at  Rome  in  1460. 

The  First  Artificial  Limb. 

The  first  artificial  limb  on  record  is  the  iron  hand  of  the 
German  knight,  Gotz  Von  Berlichingen,  who  flourished  in 
the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century  (1513),  and  who  was 
named  The  Iron-Handed.  The  hand  weighed  three  pounds, 
was  so  constructed  as  to  grasp  a  sword  or  lance,  and  was 
invented  by  a  mechanic  at  Nuremberg.  It  is  preserved  at 
Jaxthausen,  near  Heilbronn,  and  a  duplicate  of  it  is  in  the 
Castle  of  Erbach,  in  the  Odenwald. 

Kir cher's  Speaking- Trumpet. 

"The  Musurgia,"  printed  in  1650,  gives  an  account  of  a 
speaking-trumpet  invented  by  Kircher.  From  a  convent 
situated  on  the  top  of  a  mountain,  he  assembled  twelve 
hundred  persons  to  divine  service,  and  read  the  litany  to 
them  through  the  trumpet,  at  a  distance  of  from  two  to  five 
Italian  miles.  Soon  after  a  tube  was  made,  according  to 
Kircher's  directions,  by  which  words,  without  elevating 
the  voice,  could  be  understood  from  Ebersdorf  to  Neu- 
geben. 

Fish  Market  at  Scarborough. 

The  fish  market  is  held  on  the  sands  by  the  sides  of  the 
boats,  which,  at  low  water,  are  run  upon  wheels  with  a  sail 


199 


<set,  and  are  conducted  by  the  fishermen,  who  dispose  of 
their  cargoes  in  the  following  manner  : 

One  of  the  female  fishmongers  inquires  the  price,  and 
bids  a  groat ;  the  fishermen  ask  a  sum  in  the  opposite  ex- 
treme; the  one  bids  up,  and  the  other  reduces  the  demand, 
till  they  meet  at  a  reasonable  point,  when  the  bidder  sud- 
denly exclaims  :  "Het!"  The  purchase  is  afterwards  re- 
tailed among  the  regular  or  occasional  purchasers. 

Few  Fish  Found  cub  Sea. 

Paradoxical  as  the  fact  may  appear,  there  is  no  class  of 
persons  who  eat  so  few  fish  as  the  sailors ;  and  the  reason 
is,  they  seldom  obtain  them.  With  the  exception  of  flying- 
fish  and  dolphins,  and  perhaps  a  few  others,  fish  are  not 
found  on  the  high  seas  at  a  great  distance  from  land.  They 
abound  most  along  coasts,  in  straights  and  bays,  and  are 
seldom  caught  in  water  more  than  forty  or  fifty  fathoms 
in  depth. —  Wells. 

Musical  Stones. 

A  correspondent  of  Nature  writes  that,  in  roaming  over 
the  hills  and  rocks  in  the  neighborhood  of  Kendal,  near 
Lancaster,  England,  which  are  composed  chiefly  of  lime- 
stone, he  had  often  found  what  are  called  "musical  stones." 
They  are  generally  thin,  flat,  weather-beaten  stones,  of  dif- 
ferent sizes  and  peculiar  shapes,  which,  when  struck  with  a 
piece  of  iron  or  another  stone,  produce  a  musical  tone,  in- 
stead of  the  dull,  heavy,  leaden  sound  of  an  ordinary  stone. 
The  sound  of  these  stones  is,  in  general,  very  much  alike, 
but  sets  of  eight  stones  have  been  collected  which  produce, 
when  struck,  a  distinct  octave. 

The  new  French  scientific  weekly,  La  Nature,  copies  the 
communication  from  its  English  namesake,  and  brings  for- 


200 


ward  some  additional  instances  of  the  same  phenomenon. 
We  are  also  informed  of  the  accidental  discovery  of  musical 
properties  in  a  stone  fountain  at  the  French  Institute.  Its 
musical  sound,  when  struck,  corresponds  with  extreme  pre 
cision  to  the  perfect  accord  major  of  fa  natural.  The  foun- 
tain in  question  is  in  the  grand  court  of  the  institute. 

Musical  Sand. 

A  singular  phenomenon  is  the  "musical  sand  "of  Jebel 
Nagus,  a  sandy  hill  lying  to  the  west  of  the  mountain  usually 
called  Sinai.  According  to  Captain  Palmer,  an  English 
traveler,  the  sand  of  this  hill  possesses  the  marvellous  property 
of  giving  out  musical  sounds  whenever  it  is  set  in  motion. 
The  sandy  slope  is  two  hundred  feet  in  height,  the  sand 
being  very  much  the  same  as  that  in  the  desert  around. 
When  any  considerable  quantity  of  this  sand  is  set  in  mo- 
tion, it  is  seen  to  move  in  undulations,  and,  simultaneously, 
a  singnlar  sound  is  heard,  which  is  first  feeble,  but  may  be 
heard  at  some  distance  when  it  has  attained  its  maximum 
intensity. 

The  sound  is  not  easily  described.  It  is  neither  metallic 
nor  vibratory.  It  might  be  compared  to  the  sharpest  notes 
of  the  ^olian  harp,  or  the  sound  produced  by  forcibly 
drawing  a  cork  over  wet  glass.  The  phenomenon  attains 
its  greatest  intensity  during  the  day  in  summer,  when  the 
sun  is  hottest,  and  while  the  wind  blows  from  the  northwest. 
Captain  Palmer  has  observed  it  on  all  sides  of  the  hill,  and 
the  only  difference  he  has  found  are  such  as  depend  on  the 
direction  of  the  wind. 

A  River  of  Ink. 

In  Algeria  there  is  a  river  of  genuine  ink.  It  is  formed  by 
the  union  of  two  streams,  one  coming  from  a  region  of  ferru- 


201 

ginous  soil,  the  other  draining  a  peat  swamp.  The  water  of 
the  former  is  strongly  impregnated  with  iron,  that  of  the  latter 
with  gallic  acid.  When  the  two  waters  mingle,  the  acid  ot 
the  one  unites  with  the  iron  of  the  other,  forming  a  true  ink. 
We  are  familiar  with  a  stream  called  Black  Brook,  in  the 
northern  part  of  New  York,  the  inky  color  of  whose  water  is 
evidently  due  to  like  conditions. — Scientific  American. 

A  Warlike  Bantam. 

In  the  "Life  of  Rodney  "  it  is  related  that  in  the  famous 
victory  of  the  izth  of  April,  1782,  a  bantam  cock  perched 
himself  upon  the  poop  of  Rodney's  ship,  and  at  every 
broadside  that  was  poured  into  the  Ville-de-Paris,  clapped 
his  wings  and  crew.  Rodney  gave  special  orders  that  this 
cock  should  be  taken  care  of  as  long  as  he  lived. 

Oyster-dredging  Chaunt. 

During  the  oyster-dredging  the  fishermen  keep  up  a  wild 
monotonous  song,  or  rather  chaunt,  which  they  assert  charm 
the  oysters  into  the  dredge — 

"The  herring  loves  the  merry  moonlight, 

The  mackeral  loves  the  wind. 
But  the  oyster  loves  the  dredger's  song, 
For  he  comes  of  a  gentle  kind." 

Normandy  Treasures. 

At  Bayeux,  Normandy,  a  strong  belief  exists  among  the 
people  of  some  hidden  treasure  in  the  ground  beneath  the 
ruined  churches  and  castles  so  abundant  in  the  neighbor- 
hood ;  but  they  are  supposed  to  be  guarded  by 'supernatural 


202 

means.  Even  so  late  as  1827  persons  were  found  credulous 
enough  to  follow  the  directions  of  a  Douster-swivel  and 
employ  much  time  and  labor  uselessly  in  searching  after 
imaginary  riches  beneath  the  stones  in  front  of  the  Cathed- 
ral. This  belief  that  the  hidden  or  lost  treasure  is  guarded 
by  a  spiritual  attendant  is  very  generally  diffused.  On  this 
point  South ey,  in  the  "  Doctor,"  observes  :  "The  popular 
belief  that  places  are  haunted  where  money  has  been  con- 
cealed, or  where  some  great  and  undiscovered  crime  has 
been  committed,  shows  how  consistent  this  is  with  our 
natural  sense  of  likelihood  and  fitness." 

Tenacity  of  Odors. 

Dr.  Carpenter  states,  in  his  "Comparative  Physiology," 
that  a  grain  of  musk  has  been  kept  freely  exposed  to  the  air  of 
a  room,  of  which  the  door  and  window  were  constantly  open, 
for  ten  years,  during  all  which  time  the  air,  though  constantly 
changed,  was  completely  impregnated  with  the  odor  of  musk, 
and  yet  at  the  end  of  that  time  the  particle  was  found  not  to 
have  sensibly  diminished  in  weight. 

Antiquity  of  Acrobatic  Figures. 

Modern  toys  of  acrobats  are  made  to  perform  evolutions 
by  the  use  of  quicksilver.  Daedalus,  the  famous  Greek 
figure-maker,  who  is  said  to  have  lived  about  a  thousand 
years  before  Christ,  introduced  quicksilver  into  a  wooden 
image  of  Venus,  thereby  lending  to  it  a  sort  of  Chinese 
tumbling  motion. — Dr.  Doran. 

Saffron  as  a  Perfume. 

It  seems  a  little  odd  to  us  that  the  ancients  used  saffron  as  a 
perfume.  Not  only  were  halls,  theatres  and  courts  strewn 


203 


with  the  plant,  but  it  entered  into  the  composition  of  many 
spirituous  extracts,  which  retained  the  scent.  These  costly 
smelling  waters  were  often  made  to  flow  in  small  streams, 
which  spread  abroad  their  much  admired  odor.  Luxurious 
people  even  moistened  with  them  all  those  things  with  which 
they  were  desirous  of  surprising  their  guests  in  an  agreeable 
manner,  or  with  which  they  ornamented  their  appartment 
From  saffron,  with  the  addition  of  wax  and  other  ingredients, 
the  Greeks  and  Romans  prepared  scented  salves. 

Spontaneous  Combustion. 

In  Levoux's  "Journal  de  Medicine  "  is  an  account  of  a  very 
fat  woman,  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  who  was  found  on  fire 
in  her  chamber,  where  nothing  else  was  burning.  The  neigh- 
bors heard  a  noise  of  something  like  frying,  and  when  the 
body  was  removed  it  left  a  layer  of  black  grease.  The  doctor 
conceived  that  the  combustion  began  in  the  internal  parts, 
and  that  the  clothes  were  burned  secondarily. 

Egyptian  Perfumes. 

So  perfect  were  the  Eyptians  in  the  manufacture  of  per- 
fumes, that  some  of  their  ancient  ointment,  preserved  in  an 
alabaster  vase  in  the  museum  at  Alnwick,  still  retains  a  very 
powerful  odor,  though  it  must  be  almost  three  thousand 
years  old. 

Magic  Rain  Stone. 

The  Indian  magi,  who  are  to  invoke  Yo  He  Wah,  and 
meditate  with  the  supreme  holy  fire  that  he  may  give  season- 
able rains,  have  a  transparent  stone  of  supposed  great  power 
in  assisting  to  bring  down  the  rain  when  it  is  put  in  a  basin  of 


204 


water.  It  is  reputed  to  possess  divine  virtue ;  it  would  suffer 
decay,  they  assert,  were  it  even  seen  by  their  own  laity  ;  but 
if  by  foreigners,  it  would  be  utterly  despoiled  of  its  divine 
communicative  power. 

Decapitation  by  the  Guillotine. 

A  reliable  gentleman  who  witnessed  an  execution,  wrote  as 
follows  :  "It  appears  to  be  the  best  of  all  modes  of  inflicting 
the  punishment  of  death,  combining  the  greatest  impression 
on  the  spectator  with  the  least  possible  suffering  to  the  victim. 
It  is  so  rapid  that  I  should  doubt  whetherthere  was  any  suffer- 
ing ;  but  from  the  expression  of  the  countenance,  when  the 
executioner  held  up  the  head,  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that 
sense  and  consciousness  may  remain  for  a  few  seconds  after 
the  head  is  off.  The  eyes  seemed  to  retain  speculation  for  a 
moment  or  two,  and  there  was  a  look  in  the  ghastly  stare 
with  which  they  stared  upon  the  crowd,  which  implied  that 
the  head  was  aware  of  its  ignominious  situation. " 

Chateaubrun' s  Escape  from  the    Guillotine. 

During  the  Reign  of  Terror,  M.  de  Chateaubrun  was  sen- 
tenced to  death  and  sent  to  execution  with  twenty  other 
prisoners;  but  after  the  fifteenth  head  had  fallen,  the  guillotine 
got  out  of  order,  and  a  workman  was  required  to  repair  it. 
The  six  remaining  victims  were  left  standing  in  front  of  the 
machine  with  their  hands  tied  behind  them.  A  French  crowd 
is  very  curious,  and  the  people  kept  pressing  forward  to  see 
the  man  who  was  arranging  the  guillotine.  By  degrees  M.  de 
Chateaubrun,  who  was  to  the  rear  of  his  companions,  found 
himself  in  the  front  line  of  the  spectators,  then  in  the  second, 
and  finally  well  behind  those  who  had  come  to  see  his  head 


205 

cut  off.  Before  the  man  could  get  the  guillotine  in  working 
order  night  began  to  fall,  and  M.  de  Chateaubrun  slipped 
away.  When  in  the  Champs  Elysees  he  told  a  man  that  a 
wag  had  tied  his  hands  and  stole  his  hat,  and  this  simple  in- 
dividual cut  him  free.  A  few  days  later  M.  de  Chateaubrun 
escaped  from  France. 

A  Lucky  Find. 

During  the  month  of  April,  1733,  Sir  Simon  Stuart,  of 
Hartley,  England,  while  looking  over  some  old  writings,  found 
on  the  back  of  one  of  them  a  memorandum  noting  that  1500 
broad  pieces  were  buried  in  a  certain  spot  in  an  adjoining 
field.  After  a  little  digging  the  treasure  was  found  in  a  pot, 
hidden  there  in  the  time  of  the  civil  wars  by  his  grandfather, 
Sir  Nicholas  Stuart. 

Paradise  of  Old  Hats. 

The  group  of  islands  known  as  the  Nicobars,  situated  about 
one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  south  of  the  Andamans,  have  been 
but  little  explored,  though  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  in- 
habitants of  these  islands  offer  interesting  peculiarities.  One 
of  the  most  noticeable,  and  one  which  seriously  affects  the 
trade  of  the  islands,  is  the  passion  for  old  hats  which  per- 
vades the  whole  frame-work  of  society.  No  one  is  exempt, 
and  young  and  old  endeavor  to  outvie  each  other  in  the  singu- 
larity of  shape  no  less  than  in  the  number  of  the  old  hats 
they  can  acquire  during  a  lifetime.  On  a  fine  morning  at 
the  Nicobars  it  is  not  unusual  to  see  the  surface  of  the  ocean 
in  the  vicinity  of  the  islands  dotted  over  with  canoes,  in  each 
of  which  the  noble  savage,  with  nothing  whatever  on  but  the 
conventional  slip  of  cloth  and  a  tall  white  hat  with  a  black 
band,  may  be  watched  standing  up  and  catching  fish  for  his 


206 


daily  meal.  Second-hand  hats  are  more  in  request,  new  hats 
being  looked  upon  with  suspicion  and  disfavor.  The  passion 
is  so  well  known  that  traders  from  Calcutta  make  annual  ex- 
cursions to  the  Nicobars  with  cargoes  of  old  hats,  which  they 
barter  for  cocoanuts,  the  only  product  of  the  island,  a  good, 
tall  white  hat  with  a  black  band  bringing  from  fifty-five  to 
sixty-five  good  cocoanuts.  Intense  excitement  pervades  the 
is'and  while  the  trade  is  going  on.  When  the  hats  or  the 
cocoanuts  have  come  to  an  end,  the  trader  generally  lands  a 
flask  or  two  of  rum,  and  the  whole  population,  in  their  hats, 
get  drunk  without  intermission  until  the  rum  also  comes  to 
an  end. 

Wedding -Rings. 

The  wedding-ring,  symbolical  of  the  perpetuity  of  the  con- 
jugal relation,  has  ever  been  the  accepted  accompaniment 
of  marriage.  Its  being  put  on  the  fourth  finger  of  the  left 
hand  has  been  continued  from  long- established  usage,  be- 
^catise  of  the  fanciful  conceit  that  from  this  finger  a  nerve 
went  direct  to  the  heart. 

The  Prince  of  Charlatans. 

Paracelsus  was  the  prince  of  charlatans  ;  indeed  he  styled 
himself  the  "King  of  Physic."  Although  he  professed  to 
have  discovered  the  "Elixir  of  Life,"  it  did  not  seem  to  have 
been  available  in  his  own  case,  for  he  died  at  the  early  age 
of  forty-eight  years. 

One  Meal  a  Day. 

Dr.  Fordyce  contented  that  as  one  meal  a  day  was  enough 
for  a  lion,  it  ought  to  suffice  for  a  man.  Accordingly,  for 
more  than  twenty  years,  the  doctor  used  to  eat  only  a  dinner 
in  the  whole  course  of  a  day.  A  pound  and  a  half  of  rump 


207 

steak,  half  a  broiled  chicken,  a  plate  of  fish,  a  bottle  of  port, 
a  tankard  of  strong  ale,  and  a  quarter  of  a  pint  of  brandy 
satisfied  his  moderate  wants.  Dinner  over,  occupying  an 
hour  and  a  half,  he  returned  home  from  the  chop  house  to 
deliver  his  six  o'clock  lecture  on  anatomy  and  chemistry. 

G-old-headed  Canes  for  Physicians. 

In  the  times  of  the  renowned  Radcliffe,  the  gold-headed 
cane  was  the  sceptre  of  authority  among  the  medical  profess- 
ion. Dignity  dwelt  in  the  mysterious  symbol.  It  also  protected 
the  owner  against  contagious  diseases,  being  filled  with  disin- 
fecting herbs,  which  he  applied  to  his  nose  when  visiting 
patients. 

He  pursed  his  brows,  then  wink'd  his  eyes, 
Put  his  cane  to  his  nose  and  look'd  wise. 

Yearly  Food  of  one  Man. 

From  the  army  and  navy  diet  scales  of  France  and  Eng- 
land, which,  of  course,  are  based  upon  the  recognized  neces- 
sities of  large  numbers  of  men  in  active  life,  it  is  inferred 
that  about  two  and  one-fourth  pounds  avordupois  of  dry 
food  per  day  are  required  for  each  individual ;  of  this  amount 
three-fourths  are  vegetable  and  the  rest  animal.  At  the  close 
of  an  entire  year,  the  amount  is  upwards  of  eight  hundred 
pounds.  Enumerating  under  the  title  of  water  all  the  various 
drinks — coffee,  tea,  alcohol,  wine,  etc. — its  estimated  quan- 
tity is  about  fifteen  hundred  pounds  per  annum  ;  that  for  the 
air  received  by  breathing  may  be  taken  at  eight  hundred 
pounds.  The  food,  water  and  air  which  a  man  consumes 
amount  in  the  aggregate  to  more  than  three  thousand 
pounds  a  year ;  that  is,  about  a  ton  and  a  half,  or  more  than 
twenty  times  his  own  weight.  —  Wells. 


208 


Eating  Tea. 

It  was  not  until  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  that 
tea  was  indulged  in  as  a  beverage.  The  first  brewers  of  tea 
were  often  sorely  perplexed  with  the  preparation  of  the  new 
mystery;  after  boiling  the  tea,  "they  sat  down  to  eat  the 
leaves  with  butter  and  salt."  The  Dutch  were  the  first  to 
discover  the  utility  and  value  of  the  herb,  and  when,  in 
1666,  it  was  first  introduced  into  England,  it  sold  at  about 
three  guineas  per  pound. — Salad  for  the  Solitary. 

Human  Hair. 

It  has  been  estimated  that  a  single  square  inch  of  the  scalp 
— the  skin  of  the  head — contains  about  seven  hundred  and 
forty-four  hairs.  This  number,  multiplied  by  one  hundred 
and  twenty  square  inches — the  surface  of  the  head — gives 
us  eighty-nine  thousand  two  hundred  and  eighty  as  the  num- 
ber of  the  hairs  of  the  head.  If  a  lady's  hair  is  a  half-yard  in 
length,  she  will  have  one  hundred  and  thirty  three  thousand 
nine  hundred  and  twenty  feet  of  hair.  A  man  who  has  arrived 
at  the  age  of  fifty  years  will  have  lost,  by  hair  cutting,  about 
thirteen  feet,  which,  multiplied  by  the  number  of  hairs  (eighty- 
nine  thousand  two  hundred  and  eighty),  will  amount  to  one 
million  one  hundred  and  sixty  thousand  six  hundred  and  forty 
feet  of  hair  tubing,  or  about  two  hundred  and  twenty  miles. 

Durability  of  Bricks. 

The  bricks  of  Nineveh  and  Babylon,  in  the  museums,  show 
that  they  were  selected  by  the  ancients  as  the  most  lasting 
material.  Plutarch  thinks  them  superior  to  stone,  if  properly 
prepared  ;  and  it  is  admitted  that  the  baths  of  Caracalla,  those 
of  Titus,  and  the  Thermae  of  Dioclesian,  have  withstood  the 


209 


effects  of  time  and  fire  better  than  the  stone  of  the  Colisseum 
or  the  marble  of  the  Forum  Trajan. 

Origin  of  Long-toed  Shoes. 

Long-toed  shoes  were  invented  by  Fulk,  Count  of  Anjou. 
to  hide  an  excrescence  on  one  of  his  feet.  These  toes  were  so 
long  as  to  be  fastened  to  the  knees  with  gold  chains,  and 
carved  at  the  extreme  point  with  the  representation  of  a 
church-window,  a  bird  or  some  fantastic  device. 

A  Good  Tenant. 

In  the  "Gentleman's  Magazine"  for  September,  1775,  Mr. 
Clayton,  a  wealthy  farmer  of  Berkshire,  is  related  to  have  died 
at  the  extraordinary  age  of  one  hundred  and  fifteen  years,  dur- 
ing which  time  he  rented  the  same  farm  for  ninety  years .  An 
occupancy  of  so  great  duration,  by  one  individual,  is  perhaps 
uneqalled  in  the  history  of  landlord  and.  tenant. 

Three  Borrowed  Days. 

Thero  is  an  old  proverb  still  used  by  the  English  and  Scotch 
rustics,  which  represent  March  as  borrowing  three  days  from 
April.  In  the  "Complaynt  of  Scotland"  they  are  thus 
described — 

"  The  first  it  shall  be  wind  and  weet ; 

The  next  it  shall  be  snaw  and  sleet ; 

The  third  it  shall  be  sic  a  freeze 

Shall  gar  the  birds  stick  to  the  trees." 

But  it  is  disputed  whether  these  "  borrowed  days  "  are  the 
last  three  of  March  or  the  first  three  of  April. 


210 
Luncheon. 

This  word  is  said  to  have  been  originally  noon-shun,  a 
meal  partaken  of  by  laborers  in  the  fields  at  noon,  when  they 
retire  to  the  shade  to  shun  the  noontide  heat. 

Value  of  a  Long  Psalm. 

In  old  times  a  culprit,  when  at  the  gallows,  was  allowed 
to  select  a  Psalm,  which  was  then  sung,  thereby  lengthening 
the  chances  for  the  arrival  of  a  reprieve.  It  is  reported  of 
one  of  the  chaplains  to  the  famous  Montrose,  that  being  con- 
demned in  Scotland  to  die  for  attending  his  master  in  some 
of  his  exploits,  he  selected  the  upth  Psalm.  It  was  well 
for  him  that  he  did  so,  for  they  had  sung  it  half  through  be- 
fore the  reprieve  came.  A  shorter  Psalm,  and  he  would 
have  been  hung. 

Barbers'  Basins. 

Anciently,  one  of  the  utensils  of  the  barber  was  a  brass 
basin  with  a  semi-circulargap  in  one  side,  to  encompass  a 
man's  throat,  by  means  of  which,  in  applying  the  lather  to  the 
face,  the  clothes  were  not  soiled.  It  will  be  recollected  that 
Don  Quixote  crazily  assumed  a  barber's  basin  as  a  helmet. 

Strained  Politeness. 

On  the  3©th  of  April,  1745,  the  battle  of  Fontenoy  was 
fought  between  the  allied  armies  of  England,  Holland  and 
Austria,  under  the  command  of  the  Duke  of  Cumberland,  and 
the  French  army  under  Marshal  Count  De  Saxe.  The  battle 
was  commenced  with  the  formal  politeness  of  a  court  minu  t 
Captain  Lord  Charles  Hay,  of  the  English  guards,  advanced 


211 


from  the  ranks  with  his  hat  off;  at  the  same  moment  Lieuten- 
ant Count  D'Auteroche,  of  the  French  guards,  advanced  also, 
uncovered,  to  meet  him.  Lord  Charles  bowed,  and  said : 
"Gentlemen  of  the  French  guards,  fire  !"  The  Count  bowed 
to  Lord  Charles.  "No,  my  lord, "he answered,  "  we  never 
fire  first "  They  again  bowed  ;  each  resumed  his  place  in 
his  own  ranks,  and  after  these  testimonies  of  "high  con- 
sideration," the  bloody  conflict  commenced,  ending  with  a 
loss  of  twelve  thousand  men  on  each  side. 

Can  a  Clergyman  Marry  Himself? 

This  question  was  officially  decided  in  the  affirmative  in 
the  Court  of  Queen's  Bench,  Dublin,  on  November  i6th, 
1855,  in  the  case  of  Beamish  vs.  Beamish,  where  the  point 
came  into  direct  issue. 

Novel  Way  of  Curing  Vicious  Horses. 

Burckhardt  tells  us  of  the  strange  mode  of  curing  a  vicious 
horse.  He  has  seen,  he  says,  vicious  horses  in  Egypt  cured 
of  the  habit  of  biting  by  presenting  to  them,  while  in  the  act 
of  doing  so,  a  leg  of  mutton  just  taken  from  the  fire.  The 
pain  which  the  horse  feels  in  biting  through  the  hot  meat 
causes  it  to  abandon  the  practice. 

Pope's  Skull. 

William  Howitt  says  that,  by  one  of  those  acts,  which 
neither  science  nor  curiosity  can  excuse,  the  skull  of  Pope  is 
now  in  the  private  collection  made  by  a  phrenologist.  On 
some  occasion  of  alteration  in  the  church,  or  burial  of  some 
one  in  the  same  spot,  the  coffin  of  Pope  was  disinterred  and 


212 


opened  to  see  the  state  of  the  remains.  By  a  bribe  to  the 
sexton  at  the  time,  possession  of  the  skull  was  obtained  for  a 
night,  and  another  skull  was  returned  instead  of  it,  in  the 
morning.  Fifty  pounds  were  paid  to  manage  and  carry  out 
the  Transaction.  Be  that  as  it  may,  the  skull  of  Pope  figures 
in  a  private  museum. 

Pawning  Bibles  and  Waterloo  Medals. 

Among  a  list  comprising  the  articles  found  in  a  pawn- 
broker's establishment  in  Glasgow,  in  1836,  were  one  hun- 
dred and  two  Bibles  and  forty-eight  Waterloo  medals. 

A  Drum  made  of  Human  Skin. 

John  Zisca,  general  of  the  insurgents  who  took  up  arms  in 
1419  against  the  Emperor  Sigismund,  to  revenge  the  deaths 
of  John  Huss  and  Jerome  of  Prague,  who  had  been  cruelly 
burned  at  the  stake  for  their  religious  tenets,  defeated  the 
emperor  in  several  pitched  battles.  He  gave  orders  that, 
after  his  death,  they  should  make  a  drum  out  of  his  skin.  The 
order  was  most  religiously  obeyed,  and  those  very  remains  of 
the  enthusiastic  Zisca  proved,  for  many  years,  fatal  to  the 
emperor,  who,  with  difficulty,  in  the  space  of  sixteen  years, 
recovered  Bohemia,  assisted  by  the  forces  of  Germany.  The 
insurgents  were  40,000  in  number,  and  well  disciplined. 

Groaning  Boards. 

Groaning  boards  were  the  wonder  in  London  in  1682 .  An 
elm  plank  was  exhibited  to  the  king,  which,  being  touched  by 
a  hot  iron,  invariably  produced  a  sound  resembling  deep 
groans.  At  the  Bowman  tavern,  in  Drury  Lane,  the  mantel- 


213 

piece  gave  forth  like  sounds,  and  was  supposed  to  be  part  of 
the  same  elm  tree.  The  dresser  at  the  Queen's  Arm  Tavern, 
St.  Martin  le  Grand,  was  found  to  possess  the  same  quality. 
Strange  times,  when  such  things  were  deemed  wonderful — 
so  much  so  as  to  merit  exhibition  before  the  monarch. 

Abyssinian  Tradition. 

A  curious  tradition  exists  among  the  Abyssinians  concern- 
ing the  origin  of  burial.  They  say  that  when  Adam  found 
the  body  of  the  murdered  Abel  he  carried  it  about  upon  his 
shoulders  for  twenty  days,  not  knowing  how  to  dispose  of  it. 
The  Almighty  took  pity  on  him  and  sent  forth  a  crow  with  a 
dead  young  one  on  its  back.  The  crow  flew  before  Adam 
until  it  came  to  a  tract  of  sandy  ground,  in  which  it  dug  a 
hole  with  its  feet,  and  there  buried  its  young  one.  When 
Adam  saw  this,  he  dug  a  grave  in  the  sand  and  buried  his 
dead  boy  in  it. 

Cutting  Timber  by  the  Moon. 

Columella,  Cato,  Vitruvius  and  Pliny  all  had  their  notions 
of  the  advantage  of  cutting  timber  at  certain  ages  of  the 
moon — a  piece  of  mummery  which  was  long  preserved  in  the 
royal  ordonnances  of  France  to  the  conservators  of  the 
forests,  who  were  directed  to  fell  oaks  only  "in  the  wane  of 
the  moon  "  and  ' '  when  the  wind  was  in  the  north. " 

An  Artist  Tradition. 

There  is  a  tradition  that  Poussin,  the  French  painter, 
unable  to  depict  the  foam  on  a  horse's  mouth  in  a  picture  he 
was  finishing,  angrily  threw  his  sponge  at  the  canvas,  and 
thus  accidentally  produced  the  desired  effect.  It  is  a  pity 


214 


to  spoil  such  an  effective  story,  but  it  was  told  of  Apelles, 
the  Greek  painter,  nearly  two  thousand  years  before  Poussin 
was  born. 

Born  of  a  Peri. 

A  Peri,  according  to  the  mythical  lore  of  the  East,  is  a 
being  begotten  by  fallen  spirits,  which  spends  its  life  in  all 
imaginable  delights.  It  is  immortal,  but  is  forever  excluded 
from  the  joys  of  Paradise.  It  takes  an  intermediate  place 
between  angels  and  demons,  and  is  either  male  or  female. 
One  of  the  finest  compliments  to  be  paid  to  a  Persian  lady  is 
to  speak  of  her  as  Perizadeh — born  of  a  Peri. 

A  Regal  Hunting  Party. 

The  following  is  an  account  of  the  destruction  of  game  in 
Bohemia,  by  a  hunting  party  of  which  the  Emperor  Francis 
made  one,  in  1755.  There  were  twenty- three  persons  in  the 
party,  three  of  whom  were  ladies,  among  the  latter  the 
Princess  Charlotte  of  Lorraine.  The  chase  lasted  eighteen 
days,  and  during  that  time  they  killed  47, 950  head  of  game. 
19  stags,  77  roebucks,  10  foxes,  18,243  hares,  19,545  part- 
ridges, 9499  pheasants,  114  larks,  353  quails,  454  other 
birds.  The  emperor  fired  9798  shots,  and  the  princess  9010; 
in  all  there  were  116,209  shots  fired. 

Care  of  the  Beard. 

The  Mahometans  are  very  superstitious  touching  the  beard. 
They  bury  the  hairs  which  come  off  in  combing  it,  and  break 
them  first,  because  they  believe  that  angels  have  charge  of  ' 
every  hair,  and  that  they  gain  them  their  dismissal  by  break- 
ing it.  They  used  to  wear  pasteboard  covers  over  their  beards 


215 


at  night,  lest  they  should  turn  upon  them  and  rumple  them 
in  their  sleep.  The  famous  Raskolniki  Schismatics  had  a 
similar  superstition  about  the  beard.  They  believed  that  the 
divine  image  of  man  resided  in  it 

Jl  Royal  Sportsman. 

When  the  King  of  Naples  (the  greatest  sportsman  of 
Europe)  was  in  Germany,  about  the  year  1792,  it  was  said  in 
the  German  papers  that  he  had  killed,  in  Austria,  Bohemia 
and  Moravia,  5  bears,  1,820  wild  boars,  1,968  stags,  13 
wolves,  354  foxes,  15,350  pheasants,  1,121  rabbits,  16,354 
hares,  1,625  she-goats,  1,625  roebucks  and  12,435  partridges. 

Origin  of  Attar  of  Roses. 

In  the  "Histoire  Generale  de  1'Empire  du  Mogol,"  com- 
piled by  Catrou  the  Jesuit,  this  perfume  is  said  to  have  been 
discovered  by  accident.  "Nur-Jahan,  the  favorite  wife  of 
the  Mogul  Jahan-Ghur,  among  her  other  luxuries,  had  a  small 
canal  of  rose  water.  As  she  was  walking  with  the  Mogul 
upon  its  banks,  they  perceived  a  thin  film  upon  the  water, 
which  was  an  essential  oil  made  by  the  heat  of  the  sun. 
They  were  delighted  with  its  exquisite  odor,  and  means  were 
immediately  taken  for  preparing  by  art  a  substance  like  that 
which  had  been  thus  fortuitously  produced." 

Effect  of  a  New  Nose. 

Van  Heltnont  tells  a  story  of  a  person  who  applied  to 
Taliacotius  to  have  his  nose  restored.  This  person,  having  a 
dread  of  an  incision  being  made  in  his  own  arm,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  removing  enough  skin  therefrom  for  a  nose,  induced 


216 


a  laborer,  for  a  remuneration,  to  allow  the  skin  for  the  nose 
to  be  taken  from  his  arm.  About  thirteen  months  after  the 
adscititious  nose  suddenly  became  cold,  and,  after  a  few  days, 
dropped  off,  in  a  state  of  putrefaction.  The  cause  of  this 
unexpected  occurrence  was  investigated,  when  it  was  dis- 
covered that,  at  the  same  moment  in  which  the  nose  grew 
cold,  the  laborer  at  Bologna  expired. 

Coder  Idris  Couch. 

On  the  very  summit  of  Cader  Idris  there  is  an  excavation 
in  the  solid  rock,  resembling  a  couch ;  and  the  residents  of 
the  vicinity  say  that  whoever  rests  for  the  night  in  the  couch, 
will  be  found  in  the  morning  dead,  or  raving  mad,  or  en- 
dued with  supernatural  genius. 

Rights  and  Lefts. 

Centuries  ago  shoes  were  made,  as  now,  ' '  rights  and  lefts. " 
The  shoes  found  in  the  tomb  of  Bernard,  King  of  Italy,  were 
"rights  and  lefts."  Shakespeare  describes  his  smith  as  — 

"  Standing  on  slippers,  which  iais  nimble  haste, 
Had  falsely  thrust  upon  contrary  feet.1' 

Scott,  in  his  "  Discoverie  of  Witchcraft,  "observes,  "that 
he  who  receiveth  a  mischance  will  consider  whether  he  put 
not  on  his  shirt  wrong  side  outwards,  or  his  left  shoe  on  his 
right  toot." 

Efficacy  in  a  Mutilated  Saint. 

There  is  a  church  connected  with  the  convent  at  Chartreux, 
Provence.  It  was  dedicated  to  St.  John,  and  over  the  portico 
were  colossal  statues  of  the  four  evangelists,  which  have  been 


217 


thrown  down,  and  the  fragments  lie  scattered  about.  When 
Miss  Plumptre  and  her  party  visited  the  spot,  they  observed 
a  woman  upon  her  knees  over  a  fragment  of  stone,  muttering 
to  herself.  When  asked  whether  there  was  any  particular 
virtue  in  the  stone,  she  replied,  in  French  :  "Ah,  yes  ?  Tis 
a  piece  of  St.  John. "  She  seemed  to  think  that  the  saint's 
intercession  in  her  behalf,  mutilated  as  he  was,  might  still 
avail  her. 

Feasts  at  Coronations. 

The  quantity  of  provisions  consumed  at  the  coronations 
of  some  of  the  English  kings  was  extraordinary.  For  that  of 
King  Edward  I.,  February  loth,  1274,  the  different  sheriffs 
of  twelve  of  the  counties  were  ordered  to  deliver,  at  Windsor, 
a  total  of  440  oxen,  743  swine,  430  sheep  and  22,560  fowls. 

A  Baker's  Dozen. 

The  "  baker's  dozen"  is  an  old  saying.  In  "The  Witch," 
written  by  Thomas  Middleton,  about  1620,  we  find  the  fol- 
lowing : — 

Firestone. — "  May  you  not  have  one  o'clock  into  the 
dozen,  mother?" 

Witch.— "No." 

Firestone. — "Your  spirits  are  the  more  unconscionable 
than  baker's. " 

Wonderful  Exhibition  with  Bees. 

\ 

On  the  uth  day  of  October,  1766,  Mr.  Wildman,  of  Ply- 
mouth, who  had  made  himself  famous  throughout  the  west  of 
England  for  his  command  over  bees,  was  sent  for  to  wait 
on  Lord  Spencer,  at  his  seat  at  Wimbledon,  in  Surrey,  and 


218 


he  attended  accordingly.  Several  of  the  nobility  and  per- 
sons of  fashion  were  assembled,  and  the  countess  had  pro- 
vided three  stocks  of  bees.  The  first  of  his  performances  was 
with  one  hive  of  bees  hanging  on  his  hat,  which  he  carried 
in  his  hand,  and  the  hive  they  came  out  of  in  his  other  hand  ; 
this  was  to  show  that  he  could  take  honey  and  wax  without 
destroying  the  bees.  Then  he  returned  to  his  room,  and 
came  out  with  them  hanging  on  his  chin  with  a  very  vener- 
able beard.  After  showing  them  to  the  company,  he  took 
them  out  upon  the  grass  walk  facing  the  windows,  where,  a 
table  and  a  table-cloth  being  provided,  he  set  the  hive  upon 
the  table  and  made  the  bees  hive  therein.  Then  he  made 
them  come  out  again  and  swarm  in  the  air,  the  ladies  and 
nobility  standing  amongst  them,  and  no  person  stung  by  them. 
He  made  them  go  on  the  table  and  took  them  up  by  hand- 
fuls,  and  tossed  them  up  and  down  like  so  many  peas  ;  he 
then  made  them  go  into  the  hive  at  the  word  of  command. 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  he  exhibited  again  with  the 
three  swarms  of  bees,  one  on  his  head,  one  on  his  breast,  and 
the  other  on  his  arm,  and  waited  on  Lord  Spencer  in  his  room, 
who  had  been  too  much  indisposed  to  see  the  former  experi- 
ment ;  the  hives  which  the  bees  had  been  taken  from  were 
carried  by  one  of  the  servants.  After  this  exhibition  he  with- 
drew, but  returned  once  more  to  the  room  with  the  bees  all 
over  his  head,  face  and  eyes,  and  was  led  blind  before  his 
lordship's  window.  One  of  his  lordship's  horses  being  brought 
out  in  his  body  clothes,  Mr.  Wildman  mounted  the  horse, 
with  the  bees  all  over  his  head  and  face  (except  his  eyes) ; 
they  likewise  covered  his  breast  and  left  arm  :  he  held  a  whip 
in  his  right  hand,  and  a  groom  led  the  horse  backwards  and 
forwards  before  his  lordship's  window  for  some  time.  Mr. 
W.  afterwards  took  the  reins  in  his  hand,  rode  round  the 
house,  dismounted,  and  at  his  word  of  command  the  bees 
sought  their  hives.  The  performance  surprised  and  gratified 


219 

the  earl  and  countess  and  all  the  spectators  who  assembled 
to  witness  the  bee-master's  extraordinary  exhibition. — An- 
nual  Register,  1766. 

A  Treacherous  Talisman. 

Giibner  mentions  that  a  Jew  once  presented  himself  before 
Duke  Albrecht,  of  Saxony,  and  offered  him  a  charm,  engraved 
with  rare  signs  and  characters,  which  should  render  him  - 
invulnerable.  The  duke,  determined  to  try  it,  had  the  Jew 
led  out  in  the  field,  with  his  charm  round  his  neck  ;  he  then 
drew  his  sword,  and  at  the  first  thrust  ran  the  Jew  through. 

The  Cavern  Chapel. 

Waldron.  in  his  "Description  of  the  Isle  of  Man"  (1731), 
speaking  of  a  crypt  or  subterranean  chapel  near  Peel  Castle, 
says:  "Within  are  thirteen  pillars,  on  which  the  whole 
chapel  is  supported.  They  have  a  superstition  that  whatso- 
ever stranger  goes  to  see  this  cavern  out  of  curiosity,  and 
omits  to  count  the  pillars,  shall  do  something  to  occasion  his 
being  confined  there." 

Glastoribury  Thorn. 

This  famous  hawthorn,  which  grew  on  a  hill  in  the  church- 
yard of  Glastonbury  Abbey,  was  said  to  have  sprung  from  the 
staff  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  who,  having  fixed  it  in  the  ground 
with  his  own  hand  on  Christmas  day,  the  staff  took  root 
immediately,  put  forth  leaves,  and  the  next  day  was  covered 
with  milk-white  blossoms.  It  was  declared  that  this  thorn 
continued  to  blow  every  Christmas  day  during  a  long  series  oi 
years,  and  that  slips  from  the  original  plant  are  still  preserved, 
and  continue  to  blow  every  Christmas  day  to  the  present  time. 


220 


There  certainly  was  in  the  abbey  church-yard  a  hawthome- 
tree  which  blossomed  in  winter,  and  was  cut  down  in  the 
time  of  the  civil  wars;  but  that  it  always  blossomed  on 
Christmas  day  was  a  mere  tale  of  the  monks,  calculated  to 
inspire  the  vulgar  with  notions  of  the  sanctity  of  the  place. 

Buying  and  Selling. 

There  was  a  singular  custom  at  Rome  in  connection 
with  the  purchase  of  provisions.  Purchaser  and  vendor 
simultaneously  closed,  and  then  suddenly  opened,  one  of  their 
hands  or  some  of  their  fingers.  If  the  number  of  ringers  on 
both  sides  was  even,  the  vendor  obtained  the  price  which  he 
had  previously  asked  :  but  if  the  number  was  uneven,  the 
buyer  received  the  goods  for  the  sum  he  had  just  tendered. 

Fairy  Treasure: 

In  the  Leverian  Museum  were  deposited  "  Orbicular  sparry 
bodies,  commonly  called  fairies'  money,  from  the  banks  of 
the  Tyne,  Northumberland. "  Ramon,  a  character  in  the  play 
<>f  'The  Fatal  Dowry,"  1632,  says— 

But  not  a  word  of  it,  't  is  fairies'  treasure  ; 
Which  but  reveaPd,  brings  on  the  babbler's  mine. 

Hour  Glasses  in  Coffins. 

A  writer  in  the  "Gentleman's  Magazine,"  1746,  says :  "In 
June,  1718,  as  I  was  walking  in  the  fields,  I  stopt  in  Clerken- 
well  church-yard  to  see  a  grave-digger  at  work.  He  had  dug 
pretty  deep,  and  was  come  to  a  coffin  which  had  lain  so  long 
that  it  was  quite  rotten,  and  the  plate  eaten  so  with  rust  that 
he  could  not  read  anything  of  the  inscription.  In  cleaning 


221 

away  the  rotten  pieces  of  wood,  the  grave-digger  found  an 
hour-glass  close  to  the  left  side  of  the  skull,  with  sand  in  it, 
the  wood  of  which  was  so  rotten  that  it  broke  where  he  took 
hold  of  it.  Being  a  lover  of  antiquity,  I  bought  it  of  him, 
and  made  a  drawing  of  it  as  it  then  appeared.  Some  time 
after,  mentioning  this  affair  in  company  of  some  antiquarians, 
they  told  me  that  it  was  an  ancient  custom  to  put  an  hour- 
glass into  the  coffin  as  an  emblem  of  the  sand  of  life  being 
run  out;  others  conjectured  that  little  hour-glasses  were  an- 
ciently given  at  funerals,  like  rosemary,  and  by  the  friends 
of  the  dead  put  in  the  coffin  or  thrown  into  the  grave." 

Macduff fs  Cross. 

The  law  of  Clan  Macduff  was  a  privilege  of  immunity  for 
homicide  anciently  enjoyed  by  those  who  could  claim  kindred 
with  Macduff,  Earl  of  Fife,  within  the  ninth  degree.  Mac- 
duffs  cross  stood  on  the  march  or  boundary  between  Fife  and 
Strathearn,  above  Newburg.  Any  homicide  possessed  of  the 
right  of  clanship  who  could  reach  it,  and  who  gave  nine  kye 
(cows)  and  a  clopindash  (a  young  cow)  was  free  of  the 
slaughter  committed  by  him. 

Woman's  Cleverness. 

It  is  a  singular  fact  that  on  one  occasion  the  lives  of  thou- 
sands of  the  Irish  Protestants  were  saved  by  a  clever  device 
of  a  woman. 

At  the  latter  end  of  Queen  Mary's  reign  a  commission 
was  signed  for  the  purpose  of  punishing  the  heretics  in  that 
kingdom,  and  Dr.  Cole,  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  was  honored  with 
the  appointment,  to  execute  which  he  set  off  with  great  alac- 
rity. On  his  arrival  at  Chester,  he  sent  for  the  mayor  to  sup 


with  him,  and,  in  the  course  of  conversation,  related  his  busi- 
ness. Going  to  his  cloak-bag,  he  took  out  the  box  containing 
the  commission,  and,  having  shown  it,  with  great  joy  ex- 
claimed :  "This  will  lash  the  heretics  of  Ireland."  Mrs. 
Edmonds,  the  landlady,  overheard  this  discourse,  and  having 
several  relations  in  Ireland  who  were  Protestant,  as  well  as 
herself,  resolved  to  play  a  trick  upon  the  doctor,  and  while 
he  went  to  attend  the  magistrate  to  the  door,  took  the  com- 
mission out  of  the  box,  and  in  its  room  placed  a  pack  of 
cards,  with  the  knave  of  clubs  uppermost.  The  zealous 
doctor,  suspecting  nothing  of  the  matter,  put  up  his  box,  took 
shipping  and  arriving  safe  in  Dublin,  went  immediately  to 
the  viceroy.  A  council  was  called,  and,  after  a  speech,  the 
doctor  delivered  his  box,  which  being  opened  by  the  secretary, 
the  first  thing  that  presented  itself  was  the  knave  of  clubs. 
The  sight  surprised  the  viceroy  and  the  council,  but  much 
more  the  doctor,  who  assured  them  that  he  had  received  a 
commission  from  the  queen,  but  what  had  become  of  it  he 
could  not  tell.  "Well,  well,"  replied  the  viceroy,  "you 
must  go  back  for  another,  and  we  will  shuffle  the  cards  in  the 
meantime."  The  doctor  hastened  across  the  channel,  but  at 
Holyhead  he  received  the  intelligence  of  the  queen's  death, 
and  the  accession  of  Elizabeth,  who  settled  on  Mrs.  Edmonds 
a  pension  of  forty  pounds  a  year  for  saving  her  Protestant 
subjects  in  Ireland. 

Queer  Place  to  Secrete  a  Diamond. 

An  old  gentleman  recently  died  at  Brussels  who  has  solved 
in  his  will  a  problem  which  his  friends  could  never  quite 
unravel.  He  came  home  after  a  few  years  absence  abroad, 
some  time  ago,  with  plenty  of  pecuniary  means,  though  when 
he  left  Brussels  he  went  literally  to  seek  his  fortune,  since  he 
had  none  on  starting.  In  his  will,  before  he  specifies  his  be- 


223 

quests,  of  which  there  are  several  very  liberal  ones  to  friends, 
relatives,  and  also  to  charitable  institutions,  he  tells  for  the 
first  time  how  he  became  possessed  of  his  wealth.  He  went 
to  Asia  and  engaged  himself  as  a  day  laborer  in  the  mines, 
and  while  working  there  found  a  diamond  of  large  size  and 
great  value.  He  at  once  made  a  deep  cut  in  the  calf  of  his 
leg,  where  he  secreted  the  gem.  Of  course,  the  limb  became 
very  sore  and  lame,  and  led  to  his  being  permitted  to  leave 
the  mine  unsuspected.  Having  reached  a  safe  locality,  he 
removed  the  stone  and  the  sore  healed  up.  He  worked  his 
way  to  Amsterdam,  where  he  sold  the  diamond  for  $80,000. 
This  money,  put  at  interest,  not  only  afforded  him  a  good 
living,  but  enabled  him  to  go  on  accumulating.  The  pre- 
cious stone  is  now  one  of  the  crown  diamonds  of  Russia. 

Incredible  Liars. 

The  French  papers,  in  the  autumn  of  1821,  mention  that 
a  man  named  Desjardins  was  tried,  on  his  own  confession, 
as  an  accomplice  with  Louvel,  the  assassin  of  the  Duke  de 
Berri.  But  on  his  defense,  Desjardins  contended  that  his 
confession  ought  not  to  be  believed  because  he  was  so  noto- 
rious for  falsehood  that  nobody  would  give  credit  to  a  word 
he  said.  In  support  of  this,  he  produced  a  host  of  witnesses, 
his  friend  and  relatives,  who  all  swore  that  the  excessively 
bad  character  which  he  had  given  of  himself  was  true,  and 
he  was  declared  not  guilty. 

Before  that  a  similar  instance  occurred  in  Ireland.  A  man 
was  charged  with  highway  robbery.  In  the  course  of  the 
trial  the  prisoner  roared  out  from  the  dock  that  he  was 
guilty,  but  the  jury,  in  their  verdict,  pronounced  him  "not 
guilty."  "Good  heavens,  gentlemen!"  exclaimed  the  as- 
tonished judge,  "did  you  not  hear  the  man  himself  declare 
that  he  was  guilty  ?"  The  foreman  answered  :  ' '  We  did, 


324 


my  lord,  and  that  was  the  very  reason  we  acquitted  him,  for 
we  knew  the  fellow  to  be  such  a  notorious  liar  that  he  never 
told  a  word  of  truth  in  his  life. " 

Force  of  Imagination. 

A  peasant  saw  his  dog  attacked  by  a  strange  and  ferocious 
mastiff.  He  tried  to  separate  the  animals,  and  received  a 
bite  from  his  own  dog,  which  instantly  ran  off  through  the 
fields.  The  wound  was  healed  in  a  few  days,  and  the  dog 
was  not  to  be  found,  and  the  peasant  after  some  time  began 
to  feel  symptoms  of  nervous  agitation.  He  conceived  that 
the  dog,  from  disappearing,  was  mad,  and  within  a  day  or 
two  after  this  idea  had  struck  him,  he  began  to  feel  symp- 
toms of  hydrophobia.  They  grew  hourly  more  violent ;  he 
raved,  and  had  all  the  evidence  of  a  violent  distemper. 

As  he  was  lying  with  the  door  open  to  let  in  the  last  air 
he  was  to  breathe,  he  heard  his  dog  bark.  The  animal  ran 
up  to  the  bedside  and  frolicked  about  the  room ;  it  was 
clear  that  he  at  least  was  in  perfect  health.  The  peasant's 
mind  was  relieved  at  the  instant ;  he  got  up  with  renewed 
strength,  dressed  himself,  plunged  is  head  into  a  basin  of 
water,  and  thus  refreshed  walked  into  the  room  to  his  as- 
tonished family. — Pro/.  Barrantini. 

A  Wife  Returned. 

The  annexed  story  is  gravely  recorded  in  "  Dodsley's  An- 
nual Register:"  "The  following  extraordinary  affair  hap- 
pened at  Ferrybridge,  in  1767.  The  wife  of  one  Thomas 
Benson,  being  suddenly  taken  ill,  she,  to  all  appearances,  ex- 
pired, and  continued  without  any  symptoms  of  life  the  whole 
day,  and  every  proper  requisite  was  ordered  for  her  burial  ; 
but  the  husband,  hoping  for  consolation  in  his  distress,  by 


225 

some  money  which  he  had  reason  to  believe  she  had  secreted 
from  him  in  her  lifetime,  began  a  rummage  for  it,  and  found 
seven  pounds  ten  shillings  in  crown  pieces  concealed  in  an  old 
box;  but,  upon  his  attempting  to  take  it  away,  he  was  surprised 
by  his  wife,  who  was  just  then  recovered,  and  met  him  and 
terribly  frightened  him  by  appearing  as  if  nothing  had  hap- 
pened." 

Life  in  Death. 

The  wife  of  the  consul  of  Cologne,  Retchmuth,  apparently 
died  of  the  plague,  in  1571.  A  ring  of  great  value,  buried 
with  her,  tempted  the  cupidity  of  the  grave-digger,  and  was 
the  cause  of  many  future  years  of  happiness.  At  night  the 
purloiner  marched  to  his  plunder,  and  she  revived.  She 
lived  to  be  the  mother  of  three  children,  and,  when  really 
dead,  she  was  reburied  in  the  same  church,  where  a  monu- 
ment was  erected,  upon  which  the  above  particulars  are  re- 
cited in  German  verse — Edmund  Fillingham  King. 


Remedy  for  Bad  Dreams. 

When  a  man  has  dreamed  a  bad  dream  in  China  he  need 
not  despair,  for  an  interpreter  of  dreams  is  ready  to  supply 
him  with  a  mystic  scroll,  which  will  avert  the  impending 
calamity.  It  is  written  on  red  or  yellow  paper,  and  the  in- 
terpreter rolls  it  up  in  the  form  of  a  triangle  and  attaches  it  to 
the  dress  of  his  client.  The  dreamer  is  then  made  to  look 
toward  the  east,  with  a  sword  in  his  right  hand  and  his  mouth 
full  of  spring  water.  In  this  position  he  ejects  the  water  from 
his  mouth,  and  beats  the  air  with  the  sword,  repeating  in  an 
imperative  tone  certain  words,  of  which  the  following  is  an 
interpretation  :  "As  quickly  and  with  as  much  strength  as 
rises  the  sun  in  the  east,  do  thou,  charm  or  mystic  scroll,  avert 


226 

all  the  evil  influences  which  are  likely  to  result  from  my  bad 
dream.  As  quickly  as  lightning  passes  through  the  air,  O 
charm,  cause  impending  evils  to  disappear." — Credulities 
Past  and  Present. 

The  Letiche. 

At'Bayeux,  in  Normandy,  one  of  the  superstitions  still  cur- 
rent relates  to  a  being  called  a  letiche.  It  is  an  animal  whose 
form  is  scarcely  defined — of  dazzling  whiteness — which  is 
only  seen  in  the  night  time,  and  disappears  the  moment  any 
one  attempts  to  touch  it.  The  letiches  are  believed  to  be  the 
souls  of  infants  who  died  without  baptism.  Most  probably 
this  pretty  little  spirit  was  no  other  than  the  agile  and  timid 
ermine  of  Normandy  and  Brittany.— Summer  Among  the 
Bocages. 

Hell-stones. 

These  were  vast  stones  formerly  used  for  covering  graves, 
helicin  being  the  Saxon  for  "  to  cover  "  or  conceal.  In  Dor- 
setshire is  one  of  these  stones  ;  and  the  tradition  is,  that  the 
devil  flung  it  from  Portland  Pike  to  its  present  position,  as  he 
was  playing  at  quoits. 

The  Golden  Tooth. 

In  1593  it  was  reported  that  a  Silesian  child,  seven  years 
old,  had  lost  all  its  teeth,  and  that  a  golden  tooth  had  grown 
in  the  place  of  a  natural  double  one.  In  1595  Horstius,  pro- 
fessor of  medicine  in  the  University  of  Helmstadt,  wrote  the 
history  of  this  golden  tooth.  He  said  it  was  partly  a  natural 
event  and  partly  miraculous,  and  that  God  had  sent  it  to 
the  child  to  console  the  Christians  for  their  persecution  by  the 
Turks.  In  the  same  year  Rullandus  drew  up  another  account 


221 

of  the  golden  tooth.  Two  years  afterwards,  Ingosteterus, 
another  learned  man,  wrote  against  the  opinion  which  Rullan- 
dus  had  given  on  this  golden  tooth.  Rullandus  immediately 
replied  in  a  most  elegant  and  erudite  dissertation.  Libavius, 
a  very  learned  man,  compiled  all  that  had  been  said  relative 
to  this  tooth,  and  subjoined  his  remarks  upon  it.  Nothing 
was  wanting  to  recommend  these  erudite  writings  to  posterity 
but  proof  that  the  tooth  was  gold.  A  goldsmith  examined  it, 
and  found  it  a  natural  tooth  artificially  gilt. 

The  Devil  Regarded  as  a  Benefactor  of  the 
Human  Race. 

The  Ophites  were  a  sect  who,  like  most  Gnostics,  regarded 
the  Jehovah  of  the  Old  Testament  with  great  abhorrence. 
Regarding  the  emancipation  of  man  from  the  power  and  con- 
trol of  Jehovah  as  the  most  important  end,  they  considered 
the  serpent  who  tempted  Eve  and  introduced  "knowledge" 
and  "revolt"  into  the  world,  to  have  been  the  great  benefac- 
tor of  the  human  race.  They  worshipped  the  serpent,  and 
sought  to  engraft  Ophism  upon  Christianity  by  causing  the 
bread  designed  for  the  Eucharistic  sacrifice  to  be  licked  by  a 
serpent  which  was  kept  in  a  cave  for  the  purpose,  and  which 
the  communicants  kissed  after  receiving  the  Eucharist. 

Curse  of  Scotland. 

This  is  a  term  applied  to  the  nine  of  diamonds  in  a  pack  of 
playing  cards.  Much  uncertainty  prevails  respecting  the 
origin  of  the  phrase.  The  most  probable  explanation  is  that 
it  refers  to  the  detestation  entertained  in  Scotland  toward 
John  Dalrymple,  first  Earl  of  Stair,  on  account  of  his  con- 
nection with  the  Massacre  of  Glencoe,  for  which  he  had  to 


resign  office  in  1695.  The  heraldic  bearing  of  this  person 
consisted  of  nine  lozenges  on  a  field  of  azure.  These  nine 
lozenges  resembled  the  nine  of  diamonds,  and  hence  the 
popular  phrase,  the  "  Curse  of  Scotland." 

Curse  of  Innocent  Blood. 

Southey,  in  his  "  Common-place  Book,"  has  traced  the  out- 
lines of  what  might  be  worked  up  into  a  very  effective  story 
of  "citation"  for  those  who  unjustly  and  cruelly  put  others 
to  death.  "  The  Philipsons  of  Colgarth  coveted  a  field,  like 
Ahab,  and  had  the  possessor  hung  for  an  offence  which  he  had 
not  committed.  The  night  before  his  execution  the  old  man 
(for  he  was  very  old)  read  the  logth  Psalm  as  his  solemn  and 
dying  commination,  verses  2,  3,  8,  9,  10,  12,  13,  14,  15,  16." 
The  verses  contain  a  prayer  for  vengeance  upon  the  "wicked 
and  deceitful,"  who  "have  spoken  with  a  lying  tongue,"  and 
whose  days  are  to  be  few,  their  children  to  be  fatherless  and 
continually  vagabonds  and  beggars,  and  their  posterity  to  be 
cut  off.  "The  curse,"  Southey  adds,  "was  fully  accom- 
plished ;  the  family  were  cut  off,  and  the  only  daughter  who 
remained  sold  laces  and  bobbins  about  the  country." 

Legend  of  an  Inventor. 

A  story  is  told  of  an  inventor  whose  skill  was  the  occasion 
of  his  own  death.  An  immense  bell,  with  the  twelve  hours 
carved  upon  it,  had  been  hung  in  a  high  tower.  A  female 
figure  was  so  arranged  as  to  glide  from  her  hiding  place  and 
strike  each  hour  on  the  bell  with  a  huge  hammer.  Every- 
thing was  in  its  place,  and  it  had  been  previously  arranged 
with  the  concourse  below,  who  had  assembled  to  hear  the 
bell  strike,  that  it  should  sound  the  hour  of  one.  Forgetful 


229 

that  the  hour  approached,  the  artist  was  still  at  work  upon  the 
carving  of  the  bell,  with  his  head  near  it,  when  the  female 
figure,  true  to  the  machinery  that  moved  it,  glided  from  its 
place,  and,  hammer  in  hand,  struck  a  fatal  blow  upon  the 
head  of  the  workman. 

A.  Strange  Legend. 

We  are  told  that  when  St.  Helena  had  discovered  the  true 
cross  of  Christ,  she  permitted  various  fragments  to  be  taken 
from  it,  which  were  encased,  some  in  gold  and  some  in  gems, 
and  conveyed  to  Europe,  leaving  the  main  part  of  the  wood 
in  the  charge  of  the  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  who  exhibited  it 
annually  at  Easter,  until  Chosroes,  King  of  Persia,  plundered 
Jerusalem  in  the  reign  of  Phocas,  and  took  away  the  holy 
relic.  Before  this  fatal  event  we  are  taught  to  believe,  by 
Rigordus,  an  historian  of  the  thirteenth  century,  that  the 
mouths  of  Christians  used  to  be  supplied  with  thirty  teeth, 
and  in  some  instances,  no  doubt  according  to  their  faith,  with 
thirty-two  teeth;  but  that  after  the  cross  was  stolen  by  the 
infidels  no  mortal  has  ever  been  allowed  more  than  twenty- 
three  ! 

Abraham  and  Sarah. 

The  Talmudists  relate  that  Abraham,  in  traveling  to  Egypt, 
brought  with  him  a  chest.  At  the  custom  house  the  officers 
exacted  the  duties.  Abraham  would  have  readily  paid  them, 
but  desired  they  would  not  open  the  chest.  They  first  insisted 
on  the  duties  for  clothes,  which  Abraham  consented  to  pay ; 
but  then  they  thought,  by  his  ready  acquiescence,  that  it 
might  be  gold ;  he  consented  to  pay  for  gold.  They  then 
began  to  suspect  it  might  contain  silk,  whereupon  Abraham 
was  willing  to  pay  for  silk  or  costly  pearls;  in  short,  he  con- 
sented to  pay  as  if  the  chest  contained  the  most  valuable  of 


230 

things.  It  was  then  resolved  to  open  and  examine  the  chest; 
and.  behold  !  as  soon  as  the  chest  was  opened,  that  great 
lustre  of  human  beauty  broke  out  which  made  such  a  noise  in 
the  land  of  Egypt, — it  was  Sarah  herself!  The  jealous  Abra- 
ham, to  conceal  her  beauty,  had  locked  her  up  in  the  chest. 

Tradition  of  the  Temple. 

There  is  a  beautiful  tradition  connected  with  the  site  on 
which  the  temple  of  Solomon  was  erected.  It  is  said  to  have 
been  occupied  in  common  by  two  brothers,  one  of  whom  had 
a  family  and  the  other  none.  On  the  spot  was  a  field  of 
wheat.  On  the  evening  succeeding  the  harvest,  the  wheat 
having  been  gathered  in  shocks,  the  elder  brother  said  to  his 
wife,  "  My  younger  brother  is  unable  to  bear  the  burden  and 
heat  of  the  day ;  I  will  arise,  take  of  my  shocks,  and  place 
them  with  his,  without  his  knowledge."  The  other  brother, 
actuated  by  the  same  benevolent  motives,  said  within  himself, 
"  My  elder  brother  has  a  family,  and  I  have  none ;  I  will 
contribute  to  their  support ;  I  will  arise,  take  of  my  shocks, 
and  place  them  with  his,  without  his  knowledge." 

Judge  of  their  mutual  astonishment  when,  on  the  following 
morning,  they  found  their  respective  shocks  undiminished. 
This  course  of  events  transpired  for  several  nights,  when  each 
resolved  in  his  mind  to  stand  guard  and  solve  the  mystery. 
They  did  so,  and  on  the  following  night  met  each  other  half- 
way between  the  respective  shocks,  with  their  arms  full. 

Magnetic  Cures. 

The  use  of  the  magnet  for  the  cure  of  diseases  was  known  to 
the  ancients.  It  was  known  to  Aetius,  who  lived  as  early  as 
the  year  500.  He  says :  "  We  are  assured  that  those  who  are 


231 

troubled  with  the  gout  in  their  hands  or  their  feet,  or  with 
convulsions,  find  relief  when  they  hold  a  magnet  in  their 
hands."  Paracelsus  recommended  the  magnet  in  a  number 
of  diseases,  while  Kircher  tells  us  that  it  was  worn  around  the 
neck  as  a  preventive  against  convulsions  and  affections  of  the 
nerves.  About  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  magnetic 
tooth-picks  were  made,  and  extolled  as  a  secret  preventive 
against  pains  in  the  teeth,  eyes  and  ears. 

May  Dew  a  Cure  for  Freckles. 

The  "Morning  Post,"  (England,)  issued  for  the  2d  day  of 
May,  1791,  states  that  the  day  before,  "being  the  first  of 
May,  according  to  annual  and  superstitious  custom,  a  number 
of  persons  went  into  the  fields  and  bathed  their  faces  with  the 
dew  on  the  grass,  under  the  idea  that  it  would  render  them 
beautiful." 

Singular  Hindoo  Vow. 

The  following  extraordinary  vow  is  performed  by  some  of 
the  Hindoos  at  their  festival  of  Charak  Puja :  Stretching  him- 
self on  the  ground  on  his  back,  the  devotee  takes  a  handful 
of  moist  earth,  and  placing  it  on  his  under  lip,  he  plants  in  It 
some  mustard  seed,  and  exposes  himself  to  the  dews  of  the 
night  and  the  heat  of  the  day  until  the  seeds  germinate.  In 
this  posture  the  man  must  remain  in  a  fixed,  motionless  con- 
dition, without  food  or  drink,  until  the  vegetable  process 
liberates  him,  which  will  generally  be  about  the  fourth  day. 

Satanic  Superstitions. 

That  the  devil  has  a  "cloven  foot,"  which  he  cannot  hide 
if  it  be  looked  for,  is  a  common  belief  with  the  vulgar  There 


232 

is  a  popular  superstition  in  England  relative  to  goats,  that 
they  are  never  to  be  seen  for  twenty-four  hours  together,  and 
that  once  in  that  space  they  pay  a  visit  to  the  devil  in  order 
to  have  their  beards  combed. 

Healing  by  the  King. 

On  the  1 8th  of  May,  1664,  the  following  public  advertise- 
ment was  issued  for  the  healing  of  the  people  by  King  Charles 
II.:— 

NOTICE. 

His  sacred  majesty  having  declared  it  to  be  his  royal  will 
and  purpose  to  continue  the  healing  of  his  people  for  the  evil 
during  the  month  of  May,  and  then  give  over  till  Michalmas 
next,  I  am  commanded  to  give  notice  thereof,  that  the  people 
may  not  come  up  to  the  town  in  the  interim  and  lose  their 
labour.  NEWES,  1664. 

Hallow  Wen  Customs. 

Burns  says  that  "burning  the  nuts  is  a  favorite  charm. 
They  name  the  lad  and  lass  to  each  particular  nut,  as  they  lay 
them  in  the  fire;  and  accordingly,  as  they  burn  quietly 
together  or  start  from  beside  one  another,  the  course  and 
issue  of  the  courtship  will  be."  In  Ireland,  when  the  young 
women  would  know  if  their  lovers  are  faithful,  they  put  three 
nuts  upon  the  bars  of  the  grates,  naming  the  nuts  after  the 
lovers.  If  a  nut  cracks  or  jumps,  the  lover  will  prove  unfaith- 
ful ;  if  it  begins  to  blaze  or  burn,  he  has  a  regard  for  the  per- 
son making  the  trial.  If  the  nuts,  named  after  the  girl  and 
her  lover,  burn  together,  they  will  be  married.  This  sort  of 
divination  is  also  practiced  in  England.  Gay  mentions  it  in 
his  "Spell"— 


233 

"Two  hazel  nuts  I  threw  into  the  flame, 
Aad  to  each  nut  I  gave  a  sweetheart's  name; 
This  with  the  loudest  bounce  me  sore  amaz'd, 
That  in  a.  flame  of  brightest  colour  blaz'd; 
As  blaz'd  the  nut,  so  may  thy  passion  grow, 
For  'twas  thy  nut  that  did  so  brightly  glow." 

Another  charm  consisted  in  eating  an  apple.  "Take  a 
candle  and  go  alone  to  a  looking-glass;  eat  an  apple  before 
it,  and  some  traditions  say  you  should  comb  your  hair  all  the 
time ;  the  face  of  your  conjugal  companion  to  be  will  be  seen 
in  the  glass,  as  if  peeping  over  your  shoulder." 

A  third  is,  "to  dip  your  left  shirt-sleeve  in  a  burn  where 
three  lairds'  lands  meet."  "You  go  out,  one  or  more — for 
this  is  a  social  spell — to  a  south-running  spring  or  rivulet, 
where  three  lairds'  lands  meet,  and  dip  your  left  shirt-sleeve. 
Go  to  bed  in  sight  of  a  fire,  and  hang  your  wet  sleeve  before 
it  to  dry.  Lie  awake ;  and  some  time  near  midnight  an 
apparition,  having  the  exact  figure  of  the  party  in  question, 
will  come  and  turn  the  sleeve,  as  if  to  dry  the  other  side 
of  it." 

A  fourth  is  performed  as  follows:  " Take  three  dishes;  put 
clean  water  in  one,  foul  water  in  another,  and  leave  the  third 
empty;  blindfold  a  person  and  lead  him  to  the  hearth  where 
the  dishes  are  ranged  ;  he  (or  she)  dips  the  left  hand ;  if  by 
chance  in  the  clean  water,  the  future  husband  or  wife  will 
come  to  the  bar  of  matrimony  a  maid;  if  in  the  foul,  a 
widow ;  if  in  the  empty  dish,  it  foretells  with  equal  certainty 
no  marriage  at  all.  It  is  repeated  three  times,  and  every 
time  the  arrangement  of  the  dishes  is  altered." 

Pennant  says  that  the  young  women  in  Scotland  determine 
the  figure  and  size  of  their  prospective  husbands  by  drawing 
cabbages  blindfolded.  "They  must  go  out,  hand  in  hand, 
with  eyes  shut,  and  pull  the  first  they  meet  with.  Its  being 
little,  straight  or  crooked,  is  prophetic  of  the  size  and  shape 


234 

of  the  grand  object  of  all  their  spells — the  husband  or  wife. 
Earth  sticking  to  the  roots  indicates  a  fortune." 


St.  Agnes'  Eve. 

Formerly  this  was  a  night  of  great  import  to  maidens  who 
desired  to  know  whom  they  were  to  marry.  Of  such  it  was 
required  that  they  should  not  eat  on  this  day,  and  those  who 
conformed  to  the  rule  called  it  fasting  St.  Agnes'  fast.  Ben 
Jonson  says — 

And  on  sweet  St.  Agnes'  night, 
Please  you  with  the  promis'd  sight, 
Some  of  husbands,  some  of  lovers, 
Which  an  empty  dream  discovers. 

Old  Aubrey  gives  a  form  whereby  a  lad  or  lass  was  to 
attain  a  sight  of  the  fortunate  lover.  "Upon  St.  Agnes' 
night  you  take  a  row  of  pins,  and  pull  out  every  one,  one 
after  another,  saying  a  Pater  Noster,  sticking  a  pin  in  your 
sleeve,  and  you  will  dream  of  him  or  her  you  shall  marry." 

— Her  vespers  done 

Of  all  its  wreathed  pearls  her  hair  she  frees; 
Unclasps  her  warmed  jewels  one  by  one; 
Loosens  her  fragrant  boddice ;  by  degrees 
Her  rich  attire  creeps  rustling  to  her  knees. 
Half  hidden,  like  a  mermaid  in  sea-weed, 
Pensive  awhile  she  dreams  awake,  and  sees, 
In  fancy,  fair  St.  Agnes  in  her  bed, 
But  dares  not  look  behind,  or  all  the  charm  is  fled. — A'eates. 


St.  Patrick's  Birth-day. 

Saint  Patrick,  according  to  ancient  lore,  having  been  born 
at  Kilpatrick,  Scotland,  landed  near  Wicklow,  in  the  year  of 
grace  433.  Originally  there  was  a  dispute,  according  to 


235 

Lover,  as  to  the  true  anniversary  of  this  renowned  saint,  some 
supposing  the  eighth  and  others  the  ninth  to  be  the  correct 
day.  The  humorist  represents  a  priest  as  settling  the  difficulty 
as  follows : — 

Says  he,  "Boys,  don't  be  fighting  for  eight  or  for  nine; 
Do  n't  be  always  dividing — but  sometimes  combine ; 
Combine  eight  with  nine,  and  seventeen  is  the  mark, 
So  let  that  be  his  birthday."     "Amen,"  says  the  clerk. 
So  they  all  got  blind  drunk — which  completed  their  bliss, 
And  we  keep  up  the  practice  from  that  day  to  this ! 


Wassailing  the  Orchards. 

In  Devonshire,  according  to  Brand,  on  the  eve  of  the 
Epiphany,  the  farmer  and  his  men,  with  a  large  pitcher  of 
cider,  visit  the  orchard,  and,  encircling  one  of  the  best  bearing 
trees,  they  drink  the  following  toast  three  several  times : — 

"Here's  to  thee,  old  apple  tree, 

Whence  thou  may'st  bud,  and  whence  thou  may'st  blow, 
And  whence  thou  may'st  bear  apples  enow ! 
Hats  full!  caps  full! 

Bushel — bushel — sacks  full ! 

And  my  pockets  full  too !     Huzza!" 

This  done,  they  return  to  the  house,  to  find  the  doors  bolted 
by  the  ladies,  who  will  not  open  until  some  one  guesses  what 
is  on  the  spit,  and  which  is  the  reward  of  him  who  names  it. 
Some  are  so  superstitious  as  to  believe  that  if  they  neglect 
this  ceremony,  the  trees  will  bear  no  apples  that  year.  In 
allusion  to  a  similar  ceremony  practiced  in  Sussex  and  Essex 
on  New  Year's  eve,  Herrick,  in  his  "Hesperides,"  says — 

"  Wassail  the  trees,  that  they  may  bear 
You  many  a  plum,  and  many  a  pear; 
For  more  or  less  fruits  they  will  bring, 
As  you  do  give  them  wassailing." 


236 

Cutting  Off  the  Fiddler's  Head. 

A  very  singular  merriment  in  the  Isle  of  Man  is  mentioned 
by  Waldron,  in  his  history  of  that  place.  He  says  that 
"  during  the  whole  twelve  days  of  Christmas  there  is  not  a 
barn  unoccupied,  and  that  every  parish  hires  fiddlers  at  the 
public  charge.  On  twelfth-day  the  fiddler  lays  his  head  in 
some  one  of  the  girls'  laps,  and  a  third  person  asks  who  such  a 
maid,  or  such  a  maid  shall  marry,  naming  the  girls  then 
present  one  after  another ;  to  which  the  fiddler  answers,  ac- 
cording to  his  own  whim,  or  agreeably  to  the  intimacies  he 
has  taken  notice  of  during  this  time  of  merriment.  But  what- 
ever he  says  is  as  absolutely  depended  upon  as  an  oracle ; 
and  if  he  happens  to  couple  two  people  who  have  an  aversion 
to  each  other,  tears  and  vexation  succeed  the  mirth.  This 
they  call  cutting  off  the  fiddler's  head ;  for  after  this  he  is 
dead  for  the  whole  year." 

Striking  with  Nettles. 

A  painful  and  mischievous  custom  prevailed  on  May  eve  in 
the  south  of  Ireland  so  late  as  the  year  1825.  "It  was  a 
common  practice  for  school  boys,  on  that  day,  to  consider 
themselves  privileged  to  run  wildly  about  with  a  bunch  of 
nettles,  striking  at  the  face  and  hands  of  their  companions, 
or  any  other  person  whom  they  felt  they  could  assault  with 
impunity." 

Singular  Burial  Customs. 

In  the  department  of  the  Hautes  Alpes,  of  France,  in  and 
around  the  village  of  Andrieux,  the  dead  are  wrapped  in  a 
winding  sheet,  but  are  not  inclosed  in  a  coffin.  In  the  valleys 
of  Queyras  and  Grave,  the  dead  are  suspended  in  a  barn 
during  five  months  in  the  winter,  until  the  earth  is  softened  by 


28t 

the  sun 's  rays,  when  the  corpse  is  consigned  to  its  native  ele- 
ment.  On  the  return  to  the  home  of  the  deceased,  it  becomes 
a  scene  of  bacchanalian  revelry,  in  which  the  groans  and  sighs 
of  the  mourners  mingle  with  the  songs  and  jests  of  the  inebri- 
ated guests.  At  Argentiere,  after  the  burial,  the  tables  are  set 
out  round  the  church -yard ;  that  of  the  curate  and  the  mourn- 
ing family  over  the  grave  itself. 


Treatment  of  Lepers  in  England. 

According  to  the  tenor  of  various  old  civil  codes  and  local 
enactments,  when  a  person  became  affected  with  leprosy  he 
was  looked  upon  as  legally  and  politically  dead,  and  lost  the 
privileges  of  citizenship.  He  was  classed  with  idiots,  mad- 
men and  outlaws,  and  was  not  allowed  to  inherit.  The  church 
performed  the  solemn  ceremonies  of  the  burial  of  the  dead 
over  him  on  the  day  on  which  he  was  separated  from  his 
fellow-men,  and  confined  to  a  lazar-house.  A  priest,  with 
surplice,  stole  and  crucifix,  conducted  the  leper  from  his  resi- 
dence to  the  church,  and  thence  to  the  lazar-house.  As  the 
priest  left  the  latter  place  he  threw  upon  the  body  of  the  poor 
outcast  a  shovelful  of  earth,  in  imitation  of  the  closing  of  a 
grave. 

Kissed  while  Asleep. 

There  exists  an  old  social  custom  of  claiming  a  pair  of 
gloves,  from  man  or  woman,  by  a  kiss  given  when  asleep. 
Allusion  to  this  occurs  in  Scott's  "Fair  Maid  of  Perth." 
Catherine  Glover,  on  St.  Valentine's  day,  found  Henry  of 
the  Wynd  asleep  in  a  chair  in  her  father's  house.  She  stole  a 
kiss  from  him,  thereby  choosing  him  as  her  valentine,  and 
winning  a  pair  of  gloves.  Her  father,  who  was  a  glove-maker, 
says:  "Thou  knowest  the  maiden  who  ventures  to  kiss  a 


•88 

sleeping  man  wins  of  him  a  pair  of  gloves.  Come  to  my 
booth.  Thou  shalt  have  a  pair  of  delicate  kid-skin  that  will 
exactly  suit  her  hand  and  arm." 

How  the  Chinese  Secure  a  Pastor. 

The  fourth  of  February,  says  the  Nevada  Transcript,  is 
the  day  on  which  the  Chinese  select  one  of  their  number  to 
preside  over  their  Joss  house.  The  manner  of  proceeding  is 
as  follows :  The  two  companies  here  are  permitted  to  have 
each  a  certain  number  of  representatives,  and  the  fleetest  and 
strongest  men  are  generally  chosen.  These  delegates  repair 
to  a  vacant  lot  at  the  rear  of  the  Joss  house.  A  stipulated 
number  of  bombs,  each  one  containing  a  metallic  ring,  are 
placed  in  charge  of  a  committee,  whose  duty  it  is  to  fire  off 
the  bombs,  one  at  a  time.  When  the  explosion  takes  place, 
the  ring  contained  in  the  bomb  is  sent  flying  into  the  air. 
It  is  the  desire  of  the  two  factions  to  have  their  respective 
delegates  to  secure  as  many  of  the  rings  as  possible.  Of 
course,  a  general  scramble  ensues.  At  the  close,  the  side 
which  has  secured  the  most  rings  is  entitled  to  select  a  Joss 
(equivalent  to  a  minister  of  the  gospel  with  us)  from  among 
their  number. 

Easter-Box. 

A  custom  was  instituted  in  the  city  of  Toulouse  by  Charle- 
magne, that  at  Easter  any  Christian  might  give  a  box  on  the 
ear  to  a  Jew  wherever  he  chanced  to  meet  him,  as  a  mark  of 
contempt  for  the  nation  which  had,  at  that  season,  crucified 
the  Saviour  of  mankind.  This  usage,  scandalous  in  itself, 
was  sometimes,  through  zeal,  practiced  with  great  violence. 
It  is  stated  that  the  eye  of  a  poor  Jew  was  forced  out  on  the 
side  of  the  head  whereon  the  blow  was  given.  In  the  course  of 


239 

centuries  this  cruel  custom  was  commuted  for  a  tax,  and  the 
money  appropriated  to  the  use  of  the  church  of  St.  Saturnin. 

Antipathies. 

Amatus  Lusitanus  relates  the  case  of  a  monk  who  fainted 
whenever  he  saw  a  rose,  and  never  quitted  his  cell  when  that 
flower  was  blooming.  Scaliger  mentions  one  of  his  relatives 
who  experienced  a  similar  horror  when  seeing  a  lily.  Mon- 
taigne stated  that  there  were  men  who  dreaded  an  apple  more 
than  they  did  a  musket  ball.  Zimmerman  tells  us  of  a  lady 
who  could  not  endure  the  touch  of  silk  and  satin,  and  shud- 
dered when  placing  her  hand  upon  the  velvet  skin  of  a  peach. 
Boyle  records  the  case  of  a  man  who  felt  a  natural  abhorrence 
to  honey.  Without  his  knowledge,  some  honey  was  mixed 
with  a  plaster  applied  to  his  foot,  and  his  agony  compelled 
his  attendants  to  withdraw  it.  A  young  man  was  known  to 
faint  whenever  he  heard  the  servant  sweeping.  Hippocrates 
mentions  one  Nicanor  who  swooned  whenever  he  heard  a 
flute.  Erasmus  experienced  febrile  symptoms  when  smelling 
fish.  The  Duke  d'Epernon  swooned  on  beholding  a  leveret, 
although  a  hare  did  not  produce  the  same  effect.  Henry 
III.  of  France  fainted  at  the  sight  of  a  cat,  and  Marshal 
d' Albert  at  the  sight  of  a  pig. 


Superstitions  Respecting  Bees. 

The  lower  order  of  people  in  some  parts  of  England  have 
curious  superstitions  respecting  the  bee.  A  poor  old  widow 
once  complained  to  me  that  all  her  stocks  of  bees  had  died, 
and  on  inquiring  the  cause,  she  informed  me  that  on  the  death 
of  her  husband,  a  short  time  before,  she  had  neglected  to  tap 
at  each  of  the  hives,  to  inform  the  bees  of  the  circumstance; 


240 

that,  in  consequence  of  this  omission,  they  had  been  gradually 
getting  weaker  and  weaker,  and  that  now  she  had  not  one 
left.  Mr.  Loudon  mentions,  that  when  he  was  in  Bedford- 
shire, he  was  informed  of  an  old  man  who  sang  a  psalm  in 
front  of  some  hives  which  were  not  doing  well,  but  which  he 
said  would  thrive  in  consequence  of  that  ceremony.  In  Nor- 
folk, at  places  where  bees  are  kept,  it  is  an  indispensable 
ceremony,  in  case  of  the  death  of  any  of  the  family,  to  put  the 
bees  in  mourning,  or  the  consequence  would  be  that  all  of 
them  would  die.  The  method  of  putting  them  in  mourning  is 
to  attach  a  piece  of  black  cloth  to  each  of  the  hives.  In  the 
neighborhood  of  Coventry,  in  the  event  of  the  death  of  any 
of  the  family,  it  is  considered  necessary  to  inform  the  bees  of 
the  circumstance,  otherwise  they  will  dwindle  and  die.  The 
manner  of  communicating  the  intelligence  to  the  little  com- 
munity, is,  with  due  form  and  ceremony,  to  take  the  key  of 
the  house,  and  knock  with  it  three  times  against  the  hive, 
informing  the  inmates,  at  the  same  time,  of  the  bereavement. 
A  similar  custom  prevails  in  Kent. — Mr.  Jesse. 


Welcoming  the  New  Moon. 

In  Scotland,  especially  among  the  Highlanders,  the  women 
make  a  courtesy  to  the  new  moon.  In  some  parts  of  England 
the  women  exclaim,  upon  seeing  the  new  moon:  "A  fine 
moon,  God  bless  her!" 


The  Bodach  Glas. 

Among  the  warnings  or  notices  of  death  to  be  found  in  the 
dark  chronicle  of  superstitions,  the  omens  peculiar  to  certain 
families  are  not  the  least  striking.  Pennant  tells  us  that 
many  of  the  great  families  in  Scotland  had  their  demon,  or 


341 

genius,  who  gave  them  monitions  of  future  events.  Thus  the 
family  of  Rothmurchan  had  the  Bodac  an  Dun,  or  Ghost  of  the 
Hill;  and  the  Kincardines,  the  Spectre  of  the  Bloody  Hand. 
The  Bodach  Glas  is  introduced  in  the  novel  of  "Waverley," 
as  the  family  superstition  of  the  Maclvors,  the  truth  of  which 
had  been  proved  by  an  experience  of  three  hundred  years. 
Bodach  is  from  the  Saxon,  Bode,  a  messenger,  a  tidings- 
bringer;  Glas,  the  Gaelic  for  gray,  the  "Gray  Messenger." 
The  appearance  of  a  tall  figure  in  a  gray  plaid  was  always 
regarded  as  an  omen  of  an  early  death  in  the  family. 


Strange  Instance  of  Sympathy. 

The  Duke  de  Saint  Simon  mentions  in  his  "Memoirs"  a 
singular  instance  of  constitutional  sympathy  between  two 
brothers.  These  were  twins — the  President  de  Banquemore 
and  the  Governor  de  Bergues,  who  were  surprisingly  alike, 
not  only  in  their  persons,  but  in  their  feelings.  One  morn- 
ing, he  tells  us,  when  the  president  was  at  his  royal  audience, 
he  was  suddenly  attacked  by  an  intense  pain  in  the  thigh;  at 
the  same  instant,  as  it  was  discovered  afterwards,  his  brother, 
who  was  with  the  army,  received  a  severe  wound  from  a  sword 
on  the  same  leg,  and  precisely  the  same  part  of  the  leg. 


Double  Apparition. 

In  a  letter  of  Philip,  the  second  Earl  of  Chesterfield,  it  is 
related,  that  "on  a  morning  in  1652,  the  earl  saw  an  object 
in  white,  like  a  standing  sheet,  within  a  yard  of  his  bedside. 
He  attempted  to  catch  it,  but  it  slid  to  the  foot  of  the  bed, 
and  he  saw  it  no  more.  His  thoughts  turned  to  his  lady,  who 
was  then  at  Networth,  with  her  father,  the  Earl  of  Northumber- 
land. On  his  arrival  at  Networth,  a  footman  met  him  on  the 


242 

stairs,  with  a  packet  directed  to  him  from  his  wife,  whom  he 
found  with  Lady  Essex,  her  sister,  and  Mr.  Ramsey.  He 
was  asked  why  he  had  returned  so  suddenly.  He  told  his 
motive;  and  on  perusing  the  letters  in  the  packet,  he  found 
that  his  lady  had  written  to  him,  requesting  his  return,  for  she 
had  seen  an  object  in  white,  with  a  black  face,  by  her  bedside. 
These  apparitions  were  seen  by  the  earl  and  countess  at  the 
same  moment,  when  they  were  forty  miles  asunder. ' ' 

Spirit  of  Dundee. 

At  the  time  Viscount  Dundee  fell  in  the  battle  of  Killie- 
crankie,  in  1689,  his  friend,  the  Lord  Balcarras,  was  a  prisoner 
in  the  Castle  of  Edinburg,  upon  a  strong  suspicion  of  attach- 
ment to  the  unfortunate  house  of  Stuart.  The  captive  earl 
was  in  bed,  when  a  hand  drew  aside  the  curtain,  and  the 
figure  of  his  friend  was  revealed  to  him,  armed  as  for  battle. 
The  spectre  gazed  mournfully  on  Lord  Balcarras,  passed  to 
the  other  end  of  the  chamber,  leaned  some  time  on  the  mantle- 
piece,  and  then  slowly  passed  out  of  the  door.  The  earl,  not 
for  a  moment  supposing  that  he  was  looking  at  an  apparition, 
called  out  "Stop!"  but  the  figure  heeded  him  not.  Immedi- 
ately afterwards,  the  news  was  conveyed  to  his  lordship  of  the 
battle,  and  that  the  gallant  Dundee  was  slain ;  or,  as  the  song 

says,  that 

"  Low  lay  the  bonnet  of  bonny  Dundee." 


Captain  Kidd's  Vision. 

Lord  Byron  used  to  mention  a  strange  story  which  the  com- 
mander of  a  packet  related  to  him.  This  officer  stated,  that 
being  asleep  one  night  in  his  berth,  he  was  awakened  by  the 
pressure  of  something  heavy  on  his  limbs;  and,  there  being  a 
faint  light  in  his  room,  could  see,  as  he  thought  distinctly, 


243 

the  figure  of  his  brother,  who  was  at  that  time  in  the  same 
service  in  the  East  Indies,  dressed  in  his  uniform,  and  stretched 
across  the  bed.  Concluding  it  to  be  an  illusion  of  the  senses, 
he  shut  his  eyes  and  made  an  effort  to  sleep.  But  still  the 
same  pressure  continued,  and  still,  as  often  as  he  ventured  to 
look,  he  saw  the  figure  lying  across  in  the  same  position.  To 
add  to  his  wonder,  on  putting  forth  his  hand  to  touch  the 
figure,  he  found  the  uniform  in  which  it  appeared  to  be 
dressed  dripping  wet.  On  the  entrance  of  one  of  his  brother 
officers,  to  whom  he  called  out  in  alarm,  the  apparition 
vanished.  A  few  months  later  Captain  Kidd  received  intel- 
ligence that  on  that  very  night  his  brother  had  been  drowned 
in  the  Indian  seas. — Moore's  Life  of  Byron. 

Sir  Henry  Wotton's  Strange  Dream. 

Honest  Isaac  Walton  makes  Sir  Henry  Wotton  a  dreamer 
in  the  family  line ;  for,  just  before  his  death,  he  dreamed  that 
the  University  treasury  was  robbed  by  townsmen  and  poor 
scholars,  and  that  the  number  was  five.  He  then  wrote  to 
his  son  Henry  at  Oxford,  inquiring  about  it,  and  the  letter 
reached  him  the  morning  after  the  night  of  the  robbery. 
"Henry,"  says  the  account,  "shows  his  father's  letter  about, 
which  causes  great  wonderment,  especially  as  the  number  of 
thieves  was  exactly  correct." 

Supernatural  Appearance  at  Holland 
House. 

Aubrey  tells  us,  in  his  "Miscellanies,"  that  "the  beauti- 
ful Lady  Diana  Rich,  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Holland,  as  she 
was  walking  in  her  father's  garden,  at  Kensington,  to  take  the 
fresh  air  before  dinner,  about  eleven  o'clock,  being  then  very 


244 

*rell,  met  with  her  own  apparition — habit  and  everything — as 
in  a  looking-glass.  About  a  month  after  she  died  of  small- 
pox. It  is  said  that  her  sister,  the  Lady  Elizabeth  Thynne, 
saw  the  like  of  herself  also,  before  she  died.  This  account  I 
had  from  a  person  of  honor. ' ' 

Old  Grimaldi' s  Death. 

Grimaldi,  the  father  of  "Joe,"  the  celebrated  clown,  had 
a  vague  yet  profound  dread  of  the  i4th  day  of  the  month.  At 
its  approach  he  was  always  nervous,  disquieted,  anxious; 
directly  it  had  passed,  he  was  another  man  again,  and  invari- 
ably exclaimed,  in  his  broken  English,  "Ah!  now  I  am  safe 
for  anoder  month. ' '  If  this  circumstance  were  unaccompanied 
by  any  singular  coincidence,  it  would  be  scarcely  worth  men- 
tioning; but  it  is  remarkable  that  Grimaldi  actually  died  on 
the  i4th  of  March,  and  that  he  was  born,  christened  and  mar- 
ried on  the  1 4th  of  the  month. — Dickens1  Life  of  Grimaldi. 

Twelfth-night  Omens. 

In  Normandy,  if  any  of  the  family  are  absent  when  the 
cake  is  cut  on  Twelfth-night,  his  share  is  carefully  put  by.  If 
he  remains  well,  it  is  believed  that  the  cake  continues  fresh; 
if  ill,  it  begins  to  be  moist;  if  he  dies,  the  cake  spoils. 

Twofold  Apparition. 

Mrs.  Mathews  relates,  in  the  memoirs  of  her  husband,  the 
celebrated  comedian,  that  he  was  one  night  in  bed  and  unable 
to  sleep  from  the  excitement  that  continues  some  time  after 
acting;  when,  hearing  a  rustling  by  the  side  of  his  bed,  he 
looked  out  and  saw  his  first  wife,  who  was  then  dead,  standing 


245 

by  the  bedside,  dressed  as  when  alive.  She  smiled  and  bent 
forward,  as  if  to  take  his  hand;  but  in  his  alarm  he  threw 
himself  out  on  the  floor  to  avoid  the  contact,  and  was  found 
by  the  landlord  in  a  fit.  On  the  same  night,  and  at  the  same 
hour,  the  second  Mrs.  Mathews,  who  was  far  away  from  her 
husband,  received  a  similar  visit  from  her  predecessor,  whom 
she  had  known  when  alive.  She  was  quite  awake,  and  in  her 
terror  seized  the  bell-rope  to  summon  assistance ;  the  rope 
gave  way,  and  she  fell  with  it  in  her  hand  to  the  floor. 

Dr.  Donne's  Apparition. 

Isaac  Walton  gives  an  account  of  this  apparition  in  the  life 
of  Dr.  Donne.  The  doctor  left  his  wife  unwell  in  London, 
and  went  with  Sir  Robert  Drury  to  Paris.  Two  days  after 
arriving  there  he  stated  to  Drury  that  he  had  had  a  vision  of 
his  wife  walking  through  his  room,  with  her  hair  hanging  over 
her  shoulders,  and  a  dead  child  in  her  arms.  So  impressed 
were  they  by  the  incident  that  they  immediately  sent  a  mes- 
senger to  London  to  inquire  regarding  Mrs.  Donne's  health. 
The  intelligence  procured  by  the  man  was,  that  she  had  been 
brought  to  bed  of  a  dead  child  at  the  very  hour  in  which  her 
husband  thought  he  had  seen  her  in  Paris. 

Picture  Omens. 

Archbishop  Laud,  not  long  before  the  disastrous  circum- 
stance happened  which  hastened  his  tragical  end,  on  entering 
his  study  one  day,  found  his  picture  at  full  length  on  the  floor, 
the  string  which  held  it  to  the  wall  having  snapped.  The 
sight  of  this  struck  the  prelate  with  such  a  sense  of  the  proba- 
bility of  his  fate,  that  from  that  time  he  did  not  enjoy  a 
moment's  peace.  The  Duke  of  Buckingham  was  struck  by  an 


346 

occurrence  of  a  similar  kind;  he  found  his  picture  in  the 
Council  Chamber  fallen  out  of  its  frame.  This  accident,  in 
that  age  of  omens,  was  looked  upon  with  a  considerable  degree 
of  awe. 

Felling  Oaks. 

In  the  "Magna  Britannia,"  the  author,  in  his  "Account 
of  the  Hundred  of  Croydon,"  says:  "Our  historians  take 
notice  of  two  things  in  this  parish  which  may  not  be  con- 
venient to  us  to  omit,  viz :  A  great  wood  called  Norwood, 
belonging  to  the  archbishops,  wherein  was  anciently  a  tree 
called  the  Vicar's  Oak,  where  four  parishes  met,  as  it  were, 
in  a  point.  It  is  said  to  have  consisted  wholly  of  oaks,  and 
among  them  was  one  that  bore  a  mistletoe,  which  some  persons 
were  so  hardy  as  to  cut  for  the  gain  of  selling  it  to  the  apothe- 
caries of  London,  leaving  a  branch  of  it  to  sprout  out ;  but 
they  proved  unfortunate  after  it,  for  one  of  them  fell  lame  and 
others  lost  an  eye.  At  length,  in  the  year  1678,  a  certain 
man,  notwithstanding  that  he  was  warned  against  it,  upon  the 
account  of  what  the  others  had  suffered,  ventured  to  cut  the 
tree  down,  and  he  soon  after  broke  his  leg. 

"  To  fell  oaks  has  long  been  counted  fatal,  and  such  as 
believe  it  produce  the  instance  of  the  Earl  of  Winchilsea,  who, 
having  felled  a  curious  grove  of  oaks,  soon  after  found  his 
countess  dead  in  her  bed  suddenly,  and  his  eldest  son,  the 
Lord  Maidstone,  was  killed  at  sea  by  a  cannon  ball." 

Lord  Bacon's  Dream. 

When  Lord  Bacon,  as  he  himself  records,  dreamt  in  Paris 
that  he  saw  "his  father's  house  in  the  country  plastered  all 
over  with  black  mortar,"  his  feelings  were  highly  wrought 
upon ;  the  emotions  under  which  he  labored  were  of  a  very 


247 

apprehensive  kind,  and  he  had  no  doubt  that  the  next  intelli- 
gence from  England  would  apprise  him  of  the  death  of  his 
father.  The  sequel  proved  that  his  apprehensions  were  well 
grounded,  for  his  father  actually  died  the  same  night  in  which 
he  had  his  remarkable  dream. 


Reckless  Disregard  of  Omens. 

P.  Claudius,  in  the  First  Punic  War,  caused  the  sacred 
chickens,  who  would  not  leave  their  cage,  to  be  pitched  into 
the  sea,  saying:  "If  they  will  not  eat,  they  must  drink." 

Sailors'  Whistling. 

Zoraster  imagined  there  was  an  evil  spirit  that  could  excite 
violent  storms  of  wind.  The  sailors  are  tinctured  with  a 
superstition  of  the  kind,  which  is  the  reason  why  they  so 
seldom  whistle  on  ship-board ;  when  becalmed,  their  whistling 
is  an  invocation. 

The  Hinder  Well-spout  Unlucky. 

A  curious  instance  of  popular  superstition,  in  defiance  of 
plain  facts  to  the  contrary,  is  related  in  a  letter  written  in  the 
year  1808,  published  in  Dr.  Aikin's  "Athenseum."  The 
writer  says  that  in  the  year  1801,  he  visited  Glasgow,  and, 
passing  one  of  the  principal  streets  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
Iron  Church,  observed  about  thirty  people,  chiefly  women  and 
girls,  gathered  round  a  large  public  pump,  waiting  their  turn 
to  draw  water.  The  pump  had  two  spouts,  behind  and  before ; 
but  he  noticed  that  the  hinder  one  was  carefully  plugged  up, 
no  one  attempting  to  fill  her  vessel  from  that  source,  although 
she  had  to  wait  so  long  till  her  turn  came  at  the  other  spout. 


24S 

On  inquiry,  the  visitor  was  informed  that,  though  the  same 
handle  brought  the  same  water  from  the  same  well  through 
either  and  both  of  the  spouts,  yet  the  populace,  and  even 
some  better  informed  people,  had  for  a  number  of  years  con- 
ceived an  idea,  which  had  become  hereditary  and  fixed,  that 
the  water  passing  through  the  hindermost  spout  would  be 
unlucky  and  poisonous .  This  prejudice  received  from  time  to 
time  a  certain  sanction;  for  in  the  spout,  through  long  disuse, 
a  kind  of  dusty  fur  collected,  and  this,  if  at  any  time  the  water 
was  allowed  to  pass  through,  made  it  at  first  run  foul — thus 
confirming  the  superstitious  prejudice  of  the  people,  who  told 
the  traveler  that  it  was  certain  death  to  drink  of  the  water 
drawn  from  the  hindermost  spout.  The  magistrates  had 
sought  to  dispel  the  ignorant  terror  of  the  populace,  by  clean- 
ing out  the  well  repeatedly  in  their  presence,  and  explaining 
to  them  the  internal  mechanism  of  the  pump,  but  all  was  in 
vain. 

Assuming  the  Form  of  a  Bird. 

That  the  soul  quits  the  dead  body  in  the  form  of  a  bird,  is 
a  wide-spread  belief,  and  has  been  the  subject  of  superstitious 
fancies  from  the  earliest  times.  In  the  Egyptian  hieroglyphics, 
a  bird  signifies  the  soul  of  man. 

In  the  legend  of  St.  Polycarp,  who  was  burned  alive,  his 
blood  extinguished  the  flames,  and  from  his  ashes  arose  a 
white  dove  which  flew  towards  heaven.  It  was  said  that  a 
dove  was  seen  to  issue  from  the  funeral  pyre  of  Joan  of  Arc. 

In  the  Breton  ballad  of  "Lord  Nann  and  the  Kerrigan" 
there  is  an  allusion  to  spirit-bearing  doves — 

"  It  was  a  marvel  to  see,  men  say, 
The  night  that  followed  the  day, 
The  lady  in  earth  by  her  lord  lay, 
To  see  two  oak-trees  themselves  rear 
From  the  new-made  grave  into  the  air; 


249 

"  And  on  their  branches  two  doves  white, 
Who  were  there  hopping  gay  and  light ; 
Which  sang  when  rose  the  morning  ray, 
And  then  toward  heaven  sped  away." 

A  wild  song,  sung  by  the  boatmen  of  the  MoK,  in  Venice, 
declares  that  the  spirit  of  Daniel  Manin,  the  patriot,  is  flying 
about  the  lagoons  to  this  day  in  the  shape  of  a  beautiful  dove. 

In  the  Paris  Figaro  (October,  1872),  is  an  account  of  the 
death  of  a  gipsy  belonging  to  a  tribe  encamped  in  the  Rue 
Duhesme.  Among  other  ceremonies,  a  live  bird  was  held 
close  to  the  lips  of  the  dying  girl,  with  the  view  of  introduc- 
ing her  soul  into  the  bird. 

In  certain  districts  of  Russia  bread-crumbs  are  placed  in  a 
piece  of  white  linen,  outside  of  the  window,  for  six  weeks, 
under  the  belief  that  the  soul  of  the  recent  inmate  will  come, 
in  the  shape  of  a  bird,  to  feed  upon  the  crumbs.  When 
Deacon  Theodore  and  his  three  schismatic  brethren  were 
burnt  in  1681,  the  souls  of  the  martyrs,  as  the  "Old  Believers" 
affirm,  appeared  in  the  air  as  pigeons. 

Talismanic  Stones  in  Birds. 

Among  the  curiosities  of  ancient  credulity  was  the  belief 
that  certain  birds  possessed  stones  of  remarkable  talismanic 
virtue.  One  of  these  was  supposed  to  be  found  in  the  brain 
of  the  vulture,  which  gave  health  to  the  finder  and  successful 
results  when  soliciting  favors.  Dioscorides  gives  an  account 
of  the  use  of  an  eagle-stone  in  detecting  larceny.  The  Alec- 
toriuS)  a  stone  worn  by  the  wrestler  Milo,  was  so  called  from 
being  taken  out  of  the  gizzard  of  a  fowl.  A  stone  like  a 
crystal,  as  large  as  a  bean,  extracted  from  a  cock,  was  con- 
sidered by  the  Romans  to  make  the  wearer  invisible.  Corvia 
was  the  name  of  a  stone  obtained  from  the  nest  of  a  crow. 
The  swallow-stone  was  a  Norman  superstition,  according  to 


250 

which  the  bird  knows  how  to  find  on  the  seashore  a  stone  that 
restores  sight  to  the  blind.  Longfellow,  in  "Evangeline," 
says — 

"  Seeking  with  eager  eyes  that  wondrous  stone  which  the  swallow 
Brings  from  the  shore  of  the  sea,  to  restore  the  sight  of  her  fledglings." 

Birds  Prognosticating  Death. 

In  old  times  it  was  believed  that  certain  birds  prognosti- 
cated death.  In  Lloyd's  "  Stratagems  of  Jerusalem  "  (1602), 
he  says:  "By  swallows  lighting  upon  Pirrhus'  tents,  and 
lighting  upon  the  mast  of  Mar.  Antonius'  ship,  sayling 
after  Cleopatra  to  Egypt,  the  soothsayers  did  prognosti- 
cate that  Pirrhus  should  be  slaine  at  Argos,  in  Greece,  and  Mar. 
Antonius  in  Egypt. ' '  He  alludes  to  swallows  following  Cyrus 
from  Persia  to  Scythia,  from  which  the  magi  foretold  his  death. 
Ravens  followed  Alexander  the  Great  in  returning  from  India, 
and  going  to  Babylon,  which  was  a  sure  presage  of  his  end. 

Among  the  Danish  peasantry  the  appearance  of  a  raven  in 
the  village  is  considered  an  indication  that  the  parish  priest  is 
to  die.  "There  is  a  common  feeling  in  Cornwall,"  observes 
Mr.  Hunt,  "that  the  croaking  of  a  raven  over  the  house  bodes 
evil  to  some  of  the  family."  Marlowe,  in  his  "Rich  Jew  of 
Malta,"  described  the  "  sad-presaging  raven" — 

"  That  tolls 

The  sick  man's  passport  in  her  hollow  beak, 
And  in  the  shadow  of  the  silent  night 
Doth  shake  contagion  from  her  sable  wings." 

Gay,  in  "The  Dirge,"  notices  the  presage — 

"  The  boding  raven  on  her  cottage  sat 
And  with  hoarse  croakings  warn'd  us  of  our  fate." 

A  number  of  crows  are  said  to  have  fluttered  about  Cicero's 
head  on  the  very  day  he  was  murdered. 


251 

An  evil  prognostic  attends  the  bittern  in  its  flight.  Bishop 
Hall,  alluding  to  a  superstitious  man,  says  :  "  If  a  bittern  flies 
over  his  head  by  night,  he  makes  his  will." 

Homer  has  immortalized  the  crane  as  foreboding  disaster — 

"  That  when  inclement  winters  vex  the  plain 
With  piercing  frosts,  or  thick  descending  rain,  , 

To  warmer  seas  the  cranes  embodied  fly, 
With  noise  and  order,  through  the  midway  sky ; 
To  pigmy  nations  wounds  and  death  they  bring, 
And  all  tie  war  descends  upon  the  wing." 

Here  is  a  saying  that  includes  the  magpie  as  a  presager  of 
death — 

"One's  joy,  two's  a  greet  [crying], 
Three's  a  wedding,  four's  a  sheet  [winding  sheet]." 

The  burree  ckurree,  an  Indian  night  bird,  preys  upon  dead 
bodies.  The  Mohammedans  say  that  should  a  drop  of  the 
blood  of  a  corpse,  or  any  part  of  it,  fall  from  this  bird's  beak 
on  a  human  being,  he  will  die  at  the  end  of  forty  days. 


The  Crossbill. 

There  is  an  odd  superstition  connected  with  the  crossbill, 
m  Thuringia,  which  makes  the  wood-cutters  very  careful  of 
the  nests.  This  bird  in  captivity  is  subject  to  many  diseases, 
such  as  weak  eyes,  swelled  and  ulcerated  feet,  etc.,  arising 
probably  from  the  heat  and  accumulated  vapors  of  the  stove- 
heated  rooms  where  they  are  kept.  The  Thuringian  moun- 
taineer believes  that  these  wretched  birds  can  take  upon  them- 
selves any  diseases  to  which  he  is  subject,  and  always  keeps 
some  near  him.  He  is  satisfied  that  a  bird  whose  upper 
mandible  bends  to  the  right,  has  the  power  of  transferring 
colds  and  rheumatisms  from  man  to  itself;  and  if  the  mandible 


252 

turns  to  the  left,  he  is  equally  certain  that  the  bird  can  render 
the  same  service  to  the  women.  The  crossbill  is  often  attacked 
with  epilepsy,  and  the  Thuringians  drink  every  day  the  water 
left  by  the  bird,  as  a  specific  against  that  disease. 

The  Ostrich. 

The  ancient  myth  about  the  ostrich  was  that  she  did  not 
hatch  her  eggs  by  setting  upon  them,  but  by  the  rays  of  light 
and  warmth  from  her  eyes.  Southey  alludes  to  this  in( 
"Thalaba"— 

With  such  a  look  as  fables  say 
The  mother  ostrich  fixes  on  her  eggs, 
Till  that  intense  affection 
Kindle  its  light  of  life. 

Honoring  the  Lark. 

In  Russia,  on  the  pth  of  March,  the  day  on  which  the  larks 
are  supposed  to  arrive,  the  rustics  make  clay  images  of  those 
birds,  smear  them  with  honey,  tip  their  heads  with  tinsel,  and 
then  carry  them  about,  singing  songs  to  spring,  or  to  Lada, 
their  vernal  goddess. 

The  Nightingale. 

Milton's  exquisite  sonnet  to  the  nightingale  makes  pointed 
reference  to  the  fancy  that  her  song  portended  success  in  love. 
Faber,  in  the  "Cherwell  Water  Lily,"  gives  an  angelic  char- 
acter to  the  strains  of  the  nightingale.  The  classical  fable  of 
the  unhappy  Philomela  may  have  given  origin  to  the  concep- 
tion that  the  nightingale  sings  with  its  breast  impaled  upon  a 
thorn.  The  earliest  notice  of  this  myth  by  an  English  poet 


253 

is,  probably,  that  in  the  "Passionate  Pilgrim"  of  Shakes- 
peare— 

"  Everything  doth  banish  moan, 
Save  the  nightingale  alone. 
She,  poor  bird,  as  all  forlorn, 
Lean 'd  her  brtast  up  till  a  thorn, 
And  there  sung  the  dolefull'st  ditty, 
That  to  hear  it  was  great  pity." 


The  Blackbird  originally  White. 

There  is  a  curious  story  of  the  blackbird  that  its  original 
color  was  white,  but  it  became  black  because  one  year  three 
of  the  days  were  so  cold  that  it  had  to  take  refuge  in  a 
chimney.  Mr.  Swainson says  that  "these  three  days  (January 
3oth,  3ist  and  February  ist)  are  called  in  the  neighborhood 
of  Brescia,  "I  giorni  della  merla,"  the  blackbird's  days. 


The  Dove. 

The  dove  amongst  birds,  from  its  gentle  and  loving  nature 
in  the  first  place,  and  in  the  second  from  the  purity  of  its 
plumage,  has  been  preferably  selected  as  the  image  of  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

According  to  an  apocryphal  gospel,  the  Holy  Ghost,  under 
the  form  of  a  dove,  designated  Joseph  as  the  spouse  of  the 
Virgin  Mary  by  alighting  on  his  head;  and  in  the  same  man- 
ner, says  Eusebius,  was  Fabian  indicated  as  the  divinely- 
appointed  Bishop  of  Rome.  According  to  a  singular  legend, 
the  Holy  Spirit,  in  the  form  of  a  dove,  was  present  at  the 
Council  of  Nice,  and  signed  the  creed  that  was  there  framed  ! 
There  are  many  legends  of  a  similar  character. 

At  the  consecration  of  Clovis  the  divine  dove  is  said 
actually  to  have  presided  over  the  Christian  destinies  of  France. 


254 

Clovis  and  the  Bishop  of  Rheims,  St.  Remi,  proceeded  in 
procession  to  the  baptistry,  where  the  chief  of  the  Franks  was 
to  be  consecrated  king  and  made  a  Christian.  When  they 
arrived  there,  the  priest,  bearing  the  holy  chrism,  was  stopped 
by  the  crowd,  and  could  not  reach  the  font.  But  a  dove, 
whiter  than  snow,  brought  thither  in  her  beak  the  "ampoule  " 
(a  phial  of  white  glass)  filled  with  chrism  sent  from  heaven. 
St.  Remi  took  the  vessel  and  perfumed  with  chrism  the  bap- 
tismal water. 

In  a  painted  window  at  Lincoln  College,  Oxford,  Elisha 
the  prophet  is  represented  with  a  double-headed  dove  seated 
on  his  shoulder.  This  becomes  intelligent  on  referring  to  his 
petition  to  Elijah,  when  he  entreated  that  "a  double  portion  " 
of  his  spirit  might  rest  upon  him. 

The  dove,  as  a  harbinger  of  good  news,  is  alluded  to  in  one 
of  Martial's  epigrams — 

"  A  dove  soft  glided  through  the  air 
On  Aretulla's  bosom  bare. 
This  might  seem  chance,  did  she  not  stay, 
Nor  would,  permissive,  wing  her  way. 
But,  if  a  pious  sister's  vows 
The  Master  of  mankind  allows, 
This  envoy  of  Sardoan  skies 
From  the  returning  exile  flies." 

Killing  a  Robin. 

In  old  times  ill-luck  attended  the  killing  of  a  robin.  If  one 
died  in  the  hand,  it  was  believed  that  the  hand  would  always 
tremble.  In  "Six  Pastorals,"  by  George  Smith,  1770,  the 
following  occurs : — 

"  I  found  a  robin's  nest  within  our  shed 
And  in  the  barn  a  wren  has  young  one's  bred; 
I  never  take  away  their  nest,  nor  try 
To  catch  the  old  ones,  lest  a  friend  should  die. 


255 

Dick  took  a  robin's  nest  from  the  cottage  side, 
And  ere  a  twelvemonth  pass'd  his  mother  died." 

In  Derbyshire,  among  many  other  places,  it  is  believed  that 
the  catching  and  killing  of  a  robin,  or  taking  the  eggs  from 
the  nest,  is  sure  to  be  followed  by  misfortune,  such  as  the 
death  of  cattle,  blight  of  corn,  etc.  The  folks  say — 

"  Robins  and  wrens 
Are  God's  best  cocks  and  hens. 
Martins  and  swallows 
Are  God's  best  scholars." 

In  Yorkshire,  if  a  robin  is  killed,  it  is  believed  that  the 
family  cow  will  give  bloody  milk. 


The  Cuckoo. 

A  superstition  prevails  in  Ireland,  and  in  some  parts  of 
England,  that  any  young  person,  on  first  hearing  the  cuckoo, 
will  find  a  hair  of  the  color  of  their  sweetheart's  adhering  to 
their  stocking,  if  they  will  at  once  take  off  their  left  shoe  and 
examine  it  carefully.  Gay,  in  his  "Shepherd's  Week," 
says — 

"  Upon  a  rising  bank  I  sat  adown, 

Then  doff 'd  my  shoe,  and,  by  my  troth,  I  swear 

Therein  I  spied  this  yellow  frizzled  hair, 

As  like  to  Lubberkin's  in  curl  and  hue 

As  if  upon  his  comely  pate  it  grew." 

In  Norfolk  there  is  a  belief  that  an  unmarried  person  will 
remain  single  as  many  years  as  the  cuckoo  utters  its  call,  when 
first  heard  in  the  spring.  Subjoined  is  an  old  English  invoca- 
tion— 

"  Cuckoo,  cherry-tree, 
Good  bird,  tell  me, 
How  many  years  I  have  to  lire  ?" 


266 

At  the  first  call  of  the  cuckoo  the  German  peasant  does  the 
same  thing  as  when  he  hears  thunder  for  the  first  time  in  the 
year.  He  rolls  himself  two  or  three  times  on  the  grass,  think- 
ing himself  thereby  insured  against  pains  in  the  back  through- 
out the  rest  of  the  year,  and  all  the  more  so  if  the  bird  con- 
tinues its  cry  whilst  he  is  on  the  ground. 

If  the  first  note  of  the  cuckoo  comes  upon  you  when  you 
have  no  money  in  your  pocket,  it  is  held,  both  in  Germany 
and  England,  to  portend  want  of  money  throughout  the  year. 

A  valuable  virtue  is  attributed  to  cuckoos  in  keeping  off 
fleas.  In  Hill's  "Naturall  and  Artificiall  Conclusions," 
(1650),  we  find :  "A  very  easie  and  merry  conceit  to  keep  off 
fleas  from  your  beds  or  chambers.  Pliny  reporteth  that  if, 
when  you  first  hear  the  cuckow,  you  mark  well  where  your 
first  foot  standeth,  and  take  up  that  earth,  the  fleas  will  by  no 
means  breed  where  any  of  the  same  earth  is  thrown  or  scat- 
tered." This  belief  still  exists  in  some  Darts  of  France. 

WTiy  the  Cuckoo  Builds  no  Nest. 

"If  you  wish  to  know,"  says  Horace  Marryat,  in  his  "Jut- 
land and  the  Danish  Isles,"  "why  the  cuckoo  builds  no  nest 
of  its  own,  I  can  easily  explain  it,  according  to  the  belief  in 
Denmark.  When  in  early  spring-time  the  voice  of  the  cuckoo 
is  first  heard  in  the  woods,  every  village  girl  kisses  her  hand, 
and  asks  the  question :  '  Cuckoo !  cuckoo !  when  shall  I  be 
married?'  And  the  old  folks,  borne  down  with  age  and 
rheumatism,  inquire :  '  Cuckoo !  when  shall  I  be  relieved 
from  this  world's  cares?'  The  bird,  in  answer,  continues 
singing  '  Cuckoo  !'  as  many  times  as  years  will  elapse  before 
the  object  of  their  desires  will  come  to  pass.  But  as  many 
old  people  live  to  an  advanced  age,  and  many  girls  die  old 
maids,  the  poor  bird  has  so  much  to  do  in  answering  the  ques- 
tions put  to  her,  that  the  building  season  goes  by ;  she  has  no 


257 

time  to  make  her  nest,  but  lays  her  eggs  in  the  nest  of  the 
hedge-sparrow. ' ' 

The  Magpie* 

The  magpie  has  always  had  many  superstitions  connected 
with  it.  One  magpie  foretells  misfortune,  which  can  be 
obviated,  however,  by  pulling  off  the  hat  and  making  a  polite 
bow  to  the  bird.  In  Lancashire  the  saying  is— 

"  One  for  anger,  two  for  mirth, 
Three  for  a  wedding,  four  for  a  birth, 
Five  for  rich,  six  for  poor, 
Seven  for  a  witch,  I  can  tell  you  no  more.'* 

To  meet  a  magpie  portends  misfortune  in  a  journey,  and  it 
is  thought  best  to  return.  It  is  the  usual  habit  of  the  peasants 
to  cross  themselves  when  they  meet  a  single  chattering  mag- 
pie. In  the  north  of  England  the  bird  is  thus  addressed — 

"  Magpie,  magpie,  chatter  and  flee, 
Turn  up  thy  tail,  and  good  luck  fall  me." 

Of  all  living  creatures  in  Russia,  magpies  are  those  whose 
shapes  witches  like  best  to  take.  The  wife  of  the  false 
Demetrius,  according  to  popular  poetry,  escaped  from  Moscow 
in  the  guise  of  a  magpie. 

Why  the  Magpie  Builds  but  Half  a  Nest. 

The  half-nest  of  the  magpie  is  accounted  for  by  a  rural 
ornithological  legend.  Once  on  a  time,  when  the  world  was 
very  young,  the  magpie,  by  some  accident  or  other,  although 
she  was  quite  as  cunning  as  she  is  at  present,  was  the  only 
bird  that  was  unable  to  build  a  nest.  In  this  perplexity  she 
applied  to  the  other  members  of  the  feathered  race,  who 
kindly  undertook  to  instruct  her.  So,  on  a  day  appointed, 


they  assembled  for  the  purpose,  and,  the  materials  having  been 
collected,  the  blackbird  said,  "Place  that  stick  there,"  suit- 
ing the  action  to  the  word,  as  she  commenced  the  work. 
"Ah!"  said  the  magpie,  "I  knew  that  before."  The  other 
birds  followed  with  their  suggestions,  but  to  every  piece  of 
advice  the  magpie  kept  saying,  "Ah!  I  knew  that  before." 
At  length,  when  the  nest  was  half  finished,  the  patience  of  the 
company  was  fairly  exhausted  by  the  pertinacious  conceit  of 
the  magpie ;  so  all  left  her,  with  the  united  exclamation, 
"Well,  Mistress  Mag,  as  you  seem  to  know  all  about  it,  you 
may  finish  the  nest  yourself."  Their  resolution  was  obdurate 
and  final,  and  to  this  day  the  magpie  exhibits  the  effects  of 
partial  instruction  by  her  incomplete  abode. 

A  Swallow  Drinks  the  King's  Health. 

Aubrey,  in  his  "Miscellanies,"  relates  that  "At  Stretton, 
in  Hertfordshire,  1648,  when  Charles  I.  was  prisoner,  the 
tenant  of  the  manor-house  there  sold  excellent  cyder  to  gen- 
tlemen of  the  neighborhood.  Among  others  that  met  there 
was  old  Mr.  Hill,  B.  D.,  parson  of  the  parish,  quondam  Fellow 
of  Brazennose  College  at  Oxford.  This  venerable  good  old 
man  one  day  (after  his  accustomed  fashion),  standing  up,  with 
his  head  uncovered,  to  drink  his  Majesty's  health,  saying, 
'God  bless  our  gracious  sovereign,'  as  he  was  going  to  put 
the  cup  to  his  lips,  a  swallow  flew  in  at  the  window,  and 
pitched  on  the  brim  of  the  little  earthen  cup  (not  half  a  pint) 
and  sipt,  and  so  flew  out  again.  This  was  in  the  presence  of 
the  aforesaid  Parson  Hill,  Major  Gwillim,  and  two  or  three 
more  that  I  knew  very  well  then,  my  neighbors,  and  whose 
joint  testimony  of  it  I  have  more  than  once  had  in  that  very 
room.  It  was  in  the  bay-window  of  the  parlor,  and  Mr.  Hill's 
back  was  next  to  the  window.  The  cup  is  preserved  there 
still  as  a  rarity." 


259 

Birds  of  Paradise. 

These  birds  have  been  the  subject  of  many  a  fable.  Old 
naturalists  describe  them  as  being  destitute  of  feet,  dwelling 
in  the  air,  without  an  abiding  place,  nourished  by  dews  and 
the  odor  of  flowers.  Tavernier  relates,  "that  they  come  in 
flocks  during  the  nutmeg  season  to  the  south  cities  of  India. 
The  strength  of  the  nutmeg  intoxicates  them,  and  while  they 
lie  in  this  state  on  the  earth,  the  ants  eat  off  their  legs!" 
Moore  says,  in  his  "Lalla  Rookh — " 

"Those  golden  birds  that  in  the  spice-time  drop 
About  the  gardens,  drunk  with  that  sweet  fruit 
Whose  scent  hath  lur'd  them  o'er  the  summer  flood." 

The  natives  of  New  Guinea  and  the  neighboring  islands 
looked  upon  the  skins  of  these  birds  as  sacred,  and  as  charms 
against  the  dangers  of  war.  In  preparing  them,  the  legs  of 
the  bird  were  cut  off  in  a  manner  that  gave  rise  to  the  idea, 
when  the  skins  were  exported  from  the  islands,  that  the  birds 
were  legless. 

"  But  thou  art  still  that  Bird  of  Paradise, 
Which  hath  no  feet,  and  ever  nobly  flies." 

The  Owl. 

The  owl,  "the  fatal  bellman  which  gives  the  sternest  good 
night,"  was  the  dread  of  the  superstitious  from  the  earliest 
times.  Virgil  introduces  the  owl  among  the  prodigies  and 
horrors  that  foreran  the  suicide  of  Dido.  It  was  said  that 
two  large  owls  would  perch  upon  the  battlements  of  Wardour 
Castle  whenever  an  Arundel's  last  hour  had  come.  The  cry 
of  the  owl  is  heard  by  Lady  Macbeth,  during  the  murder. 
Hogarth  introduces  the  owl  in  the  murder  scene  of  his  "Four 
Stages  of  Cruelty." 


360 

The  Ethiopians,  wnen  they  wished  to  pronounce  sentence 
of  death  upon  any  person,  carried  to  him  a  table  upon  which 
an  owl  was  painted.  When  the  guilty  man  saw  it,  he  was 
expected  to  destroy  himself  with  his  own  hand.  To  the 
peasants,  the  cry  of  the  owl  foretells  hail  and  rain,  accom- 
panied by  lightning.  The  practice  of  nailing  the  bird  to  a 
barn-door,  to  avert  evil  consequences,  is  common  throughout 
Europe,  and  is  mentioned  by  Palladius  in  his  "Treatise  on 
Agriculture."  Pliny  wrote :  "  If  an  owl  be  seen  either  with- 
in cities  or  otherwise  abroad  in  any  place,  it  is  not  for  good, 
but  prognosticates  some  fearful  misfortune." 

The  Phoenix. 

The  Rabbins  tell  us  "that  all  the  birds  having  complied 
with  the  first  woman,  and,  with  her,  having  eaten  of  the  forbid- 
den fruit,  except  the  phcenix,  as  a  reward  it  obtained  a  sort 
of  immortality.  It  lived  five  hundred  years  in  the  wilderness; 
then  making  a  nest  of  spices,  it  lighted  it  by  the  wafting  of  its 
wings,  and  the  body  was  consumed.  From  the  ashes  arose  a 
worm  which  grew  up  to  be  a  phcenix."  Moore,  in  "Para- 
dise and  the  Peri,"  alludes  to 

The  enchanted  pile  of  that  lonely  bird 
Who  sings  at  the  last  his  own  death-lay, 
And  in  music  and  perfumes  dies  away. 

"The  myth  of  the  phcenix,"  says  George  Stephens,  in 
Archseologia,  "is  one  of  the  most  ancient  in  the  world. 
Originally  a  temple  type  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul,  its 
birthplace  appears  to  have  been  the  sunny  clime  of  the  fanci- 
ful and  gorgeous  East.  Even  in  the  days  of  Job  and  David  it 
was  already  a  popular  tradition  in  Palestine  and  Arabia. ' ' 

Herodotus  describes  the  phcenix  in  the  following  words : 
"The  plumage  is  partly  red,  partly  golden,  while  the  genera) 


261 

make  and  size  are  almost  exactly  that  of  the  eagle.  They  tell 
a  story  in  Egypt  of  what  this  bird  does,  which  appears  incredi- 
ble,— that  he  comes  all  the  way  from  Arabia,  and  brings  the 
parent  bird,  all  plastered  over  with  myrrh,  to  the  Temple  of 
the  Sun,  and  there  buries  the  body.  In  order  to  bring  him, 
they  say,  he  first  forms  a  ball  of  myrrh  as  big  as  he  finds  that 
he  can  carry;  then  he  hollows  out  the  ball  and  puts  his  parent 
inside,  after  which  he  covers  over  the  opening  with  fresh 
myrrh,  and  the  ball  is  then  exactly  of  the  same  weight  as  at 
first.  So  he  brings  it  to  Egypt,  as  I  have  said,  and  deposits 
it  in  the  Temple  of  the  Sun. ' '  Ariosto  alludes  to  this  fable  in 
the  voyage  of  Astolfo — 

"Arabia,  named  the  Happy,  now  he  gains; 
Incense  and  myrrh  perfume  her  grateful  plains; 
The  virgin  phoenix  there,  in  need  of  rest, 
Selects  from  all  the  world  her  balmy  nest." 

The  phoenix,  as  a  sign  over  chemists'  shops,  was  adopted 
from  the  association  of  this  fabulous  bird  with  alchemy. 

The  Wren. 

The  story  of  the  contest  for  the  crown,  in  which  the  wren 
outwitted  the  eagle,  is  traditional  in  Germany,  France,  Ire- 
land and  other  countries.  It  seems  that  the  birds  all  met 
together  one  day,  and  settled  among  themselves  that  which 
ever  of  them  could  fly  the  highest  was  to  be  king  of  them  all. 
As  they  were  starting,  the  wren,  unknown  to  the  eagle, 
perched  himself  on  his  tail.  Away  flew  the  birds,  and  the 
eagle  soared  far  above  the  others,  until,  tired,  he  perched  him- 
self on  a  rock,  and  declared  that  he  had  gained  the  victory. 
"Not  so  fast/'  cried  the  wren,  getting  off  the  tail  and  spring- 
ing above  the  eagle;  "you  have  lost  your  chance,  and  I  am 
king  of  the  birds. ' '  The  eagle,  angry  at  the  trick  played 


262 

upon  him,  gave  the  wren,  as  he  came  down,  a  smart  stroke  with 
his  wing,  from  which  time  the  wren  has  never  been  able  to 
fly  higher  than  a  hawthorn  bush. 

The  story  is  told  with  a  different  conclusion  in  Germany. 
According  to  the  German  version,  the  tricky  wren  was 
imprisoned  in  a  mouse-hole,  and  the  owl  was  set  to  watch 
before  it,  whilst  the  other  birds  were  deliberating  upon  the 
punishment  to  be  inflicted  upon  the  offender.  The  owl  fell 
asleep,  and  the  prisoner  escaped.  The  owl  was  so  ashamed 
that  he  has  never  ventured  to  show  himself  by  daylight. 

In  the  Ojibua  legend  the  gray  linnet  is  the  tricky  bird,  and 
the  verdict  was  rendered  in  favor  of  the  eagle,  for  he  not  only 
flew  nearest  to  the  sun,  but  carried  the  linnet  with  him. 

In  France  the  wren  is  called  roitelet  (little  king),  and  also 
poulette  au  bon  Dieu,  "God's  little  hen."  To  kill  it  or  to 
rob  its  nest  would  bring  down  lightning  on  the  culprit's  head. 
Robert  Chambers,  in  "Popular  Rhymes,"  says — 

"  Malisons,  malisons,  mair  than  ten 
That  harry  the  Ladye  of  Heaven's  hen." 

At  Carcasonne  the  wren  was  carried  about  on  a  staff  adorned 
with  a  garland  of  olive,  oak  and  mistletoe.  In  the  Isle  of 
Man  the  wren  is  believed  to  be  a  transformed  fairy. 


White-breasted  Birds. 

In  Devonshire  the  appearance  of  a  white-breasted  bird  has 
long  been  considered  an  omen  of  death.  This  belief  has  been 
traced  to  a  circumstance  which  happened  to  the  Oxenham 
family  in  that  county,  and  related  by  Howell,  in  his  "Familiar 
Letters,"  wherein  is  the  following  monumental  inscription : 
"Here  lies  John  Oxenham,  a  goodly  young  man,  in  who^e 
chamber,  as  he  was  struggling  with  the  pangs  of  death,  a  bird 
with  a  white  breast  was  seen  fluttering  about  his  bed,  and  so 


263 


vanished."     The  same  circumstance  is  related  of  his  sistei 
Mary,  and  two  or  three  others  of  the  family. 

The  Penguin's  Solitary  Egg. 

The  female  penguin  of  Patagonia  does  not  commit  her  off- 
spring to  any  kind  of  nest.  She  constantly  carries  her  solitary 
egg  in  a  pouch  formed  by  a  fold  in  the  skin  of  the  abdomen, 
and  it  is  held  so  fast  in  this  that  she  leaps  or  sometimes  rolls 
from  rock  to  rock  without  letting  it  fall.  It  is  well  for  her 
she  does  so,  for  should  such  a  mishap  befall  her  the  male 
bird  chastises  her  without  pity. 

The  Crocodile  Plover. 

One  of  the  best  friends  of  the  crocodile  is  a  little  bird  of 
the  plover  species.  The  mouth  of  the  reptile  is  infested  with 
painful  parasites,  and  the  bird  fearlessly  flies  into  the  open 
jaws  and  picks  out  the  insects.  The  crocodile  appears  to  be 
conscious  of  this  kindly  office,  for  it  never  offers  to  hurt  its 
little  feathered  friend. 

Peacocks'  Crests. 

In  ancient  times  peacocks'  crests  were  among  the  orna- 
ments of  the  kings  of  England.  Ernald  de  Aclent  (Acland) 
"paid  a  fine  to  King  John  in  a  hundred  and  forty  palfries, 
with  sackbuts,  gilt  spurs  and  peacocks'  crests,  such  as  would 
be  for  his  credit. ' ' 

Worshivful  Cranes. 

Tame  cranes,  kept  in  the  Middle  Ages,  are  said  to  have 
stood  before  the  table  at  dinner,  and  kneeled  and  bowed  the 


264 

head  when  a  bishop  pronounced  the  benediction.  But  how 
they  knelt  is  as  fairly  open  to  inquiry  as  how  Dives  could 
take  his  seat  in  torment,  as  he  did,  according  to  an  old  carol, 
"all  on  a  serpent's  knee." 

The  Great  Auk. 

Pennant  says  that  this  bird  never  wanders  beyond  sound- 
ings, by  which  sailors  are  assured  that  land  is  not  very  remote. 
Aristophanes  tells  us  that  the  Greek  mariners,  more  than  two 
thousand  years  ago,  made  note  of  the  habits  and  movements 
of  birds. 

"  From  birds,  in  sailing,  men  instructions  take, 
Now  lie  in  port,  BOW  sail  Mid  profit  make." 

The  Kingfisher. 

Sir  Thomas  Brown,  in  his  "Vulgar  Errors,"  says:  ''A 
kingfisher  hanged  by  the  bill  sheweth  what  quarter  the  wind 
is,  by  an  occult  and  secret  property,  converting  the  breast  to 
that  part  of  the  horizon  from  whence  the  wind  doth  blow. 
This  is  a  received  opinion,  and  very  strange,  introducing 
natural  weathercocks  and  extending  magnetical  positions  as 
far  as  animal  natures,  a  conceit  supported  chiefly  by  present 
practice,  yet  not  made  out  by  reason  nor  experience. ' '  The 
ancients  believed  that  so  long  as  the  female  kingfishers  sat  on 
their  eggs,  no  storm  or  tempest  disturbed  the  ocean.  In 
Wild's  "Iter  Boreale,"  we  read— 

"  The  peaceful  kingfishers  are  met  together 
About  the  decks,  and  prophesy  calm  weather." 

Gmelin,  in  his  "Voyage  en  Sib6rie,"  says  that  "the  Tar- 
tars believe  that  if  they  touch  a  woman,  or  even  her  clothes, 
with  a  feather  from  a  kingfisher,  she  must  fall  in  love  with 


265 

them.  The  Ostiacs  take  the  skin,  the  bill  and  the  claws  of 
this  bird,  shut  them  up  in  a  purse,  and  so  long  as  they  pre- 
serve this  sort  of  amulet  they  believe  they  have  no  ill  to  fear. 
The  person  who  told  me  of  this  means  of  living  happily  could 
not  forbear  shedding  tears,  for  the  loss  of  a  kingfisher's  skin 
had  caused  him  to  lose  both  his  wife  and  his  goods." 

The  Albatross. 

The  albatross  is  remarkable  for  its  migrations ;  indeed,  it 
may  almost  be  said  to  pass  from  pole  to  pole,  and  is  seen  at  a 
greater  distance  from  land  than  any  other  bird.  Hence 
sailors  regard  this  companion  of  their  voyage  with  superstitious 
fondness.  Coleridge  speaks  of  the  albatross  in  his  "Ancient 
Mariner" — 

And  all  avert' d  I  had  killed  the  bird 

That  made  the  breezes  to  blow ; 
"A  wretch,"  said  they,  '•'  the  bird  to  slay, 
That  made  the  breezes  to  blow." 


The  Stork. 

A  feeling  of  attachment,  not  devoid  of  superstition,  pro- 
cures the  stork  an  unmolested  life  in  all  Moslem  countries. 
The  Dutch  regard  them  as  birds  of  good  omen,  and  a  wagon- 
wheel  is  often  laid  upon  the  house-top  for  the  stork  to  build 
his  nest  on,  during  which  time  the  house  is  safe  from  fire.  It 
is  sometimes  called  by  them  the  "fire-fowl"  and  "baby- 
bringer." 

In  North  Germany,  the  first  time  in  the  year  that  a  girl 
hears  the  stork,  if  it  clatter  with  its  bill,  she  will  break  some- 
thing ;  if  it  be  flying,  she  will  be  a  bride  before  the  year  is 
out ;  if  it  be  standing,  she  will  be  asked  to  stand  godmother. 

Storks  are  "fabled"  to  be  very  attentive  to  their  aged 


266 

parents,  carrying  them  from  place  to  place  and  feeding  them 
if  they  are  blind.     Aristophanes  says — 

"'Tis  an  ancient  law 

Among  the  birds,  on  the  storks'  tables  writ, 
Soon  as  the  father  stork  hath  nourished  all 
His  brood,  and  made  them  fit  for  flight,  in  turn 
The  younglings  should  support  their  aged  sire." 

Cocks  and  Hens. 

Schweinfurth,  in  his  "Heart  of  Africa,"  gives  the  follow- 
ing curious  auguries  from  cocks  and  hens,  common  to  various 
negro  tribes:  "An  oily  fluid,  concocted  from  a  red  wood 
called  'Bengye,'  is  administered  to  a  hen.  If  the  bird  dies, 
there  will  be  misfortune  in  war ;  if  it  survives,  there  will  be 
victory.  Another  mode  of  trying  their  fortune  consists  in 
seizing  a  cock  and  ducking  its  head  repeatedly  under  water, 
until  the  creature  is  stiff  and  senseless.  They  then  leave  it  to 
itself.  If  it  should  rally,  they  draw  an  omen  that  is  favorable 
to  their  design ;  if  it  should  succumb,  they  look  for  an  adverse 
issue." 

A  curious  notion  respecting  fowls  existed  in  various  parts 
of  England.  On  the  morning  of  St.  Valentine's  day,  the 
girls,  before  opening  the  outer  door,  would  look  into  the  yard 
through  the  key-hole.  If  they  saw  a  cock  and  hen  in  com- 
pany, it  was  taken  for  granted  that  the  person  most  interested 
would  be  married  before  the  year  was  out. 

In  Hooker's  "Tour  in  Morocco,"  recently  published,  he 
mentions  that  in  a  storm  in  the  heights  of  the  Atlas,  one  of 
his  attendants  cut  the  throat  of  a  cock  he  carried,  to  appease 
the  wrath  of  the  demons  of  the  mountains. 

Mr.  Dalyell,  in  his  "Darker  Superstitions  of  Scotland," 
observes  that  during  the  prevalence  of  infectious  diseases  in 
the  East,  a  cock  was  killed  over  the  bed  of  the  invalid,  sprink- 


267 

ling  him  with  the  blood.  A  red  cock  was  dedicated  by  sick 
persons  in  Ceylon  to  a  malignant  divinity,  and  afterwards 
offered  as  a  sacrifice  in  the  event  of  recovery. 

In  "Credulities  Past  and  Present,"  it  is  stated  that  "in 
Durham  there  is  a  superstition  that  if  any  person  was 
bewitched,  the  author  of  the  evil  might  be  discovered  by  the 
following  means :  To  steal  a  black  hen,  take  out  the  heart, 
stick  it  full  of  pins,  and  roast  it  at  midnight.  The  f  double ' 
of  the  witch  would  come  and  nearly  pull  the  door  down.  If 
the  '  double '  was  not  seen,  any  one  of  the  neighbors  who 
had  passed  a  remarkably  bad  night  was  fixed  upon  !" 

Led  by  a  Gander. 

In  Germany  an  aged  blind  woman  was  led  to  church  every 
Sunday  by  a  gander,  which  dragged  her  along,  holding  her 
gown  in  his  beak.  As  soon  as  the  old  woman  was  seated  in 
her  pew  the  gander  retired  to  the  church-yard  to  feed  upon 
the  grass,  and  when  the  service  was  ended  he  conducted  his 
mistress  to  her  home. — Menault. 


Crows  Lost  in  a  Fog. 

The  Hartford  Times  tells  a  curious  story  of  a  flock  of  crows 
in  that  vicinity  who  recently  lost  their  way  in  a  fog.  They 
lost  their  bearings  at  a  point  directly  above  the  South  Green, 
in  Hartford.  For  a  good  while  they  hovered  there,  coming 
low  down,  circling  and  diving  aimlessly  about,  like  a  blind- 
folded person  in  "blind  man's  buff,"  and  keeping  up  a  hoarse 
cawing  and  general  racket  beyond  description.  It  was  plain 
enough  that  of  the  entire  company  each  individual  crow  was 
not  only  puzzled  and  bothered,  but  highly  indignant,  and 
inclined  to  utter  "cuss  words"  in  his  frantic  attempts  to  be 


268 

heard  above  the  general  din,  and  tell  the  others  which  way  to 
go.  Once  or  twice  the  whole  flock  swept  down  to  a  distance 
of  not  more  than  one  hundred  feet  above  the  street.  Finally, 
after  going  around  for  many  times,  they  sailed  away  in  a  south- 
erly direction,  evidently  having  got  some  clue  to  the  way  out 
of  the  fog,  or  desperately  resolved  to  go  somewhere  till  they 
could  see  daylight. 

The  Peacoch  at  Home. 

Peacocks  are  found  in  almost  all  parts  of  India  and  Siam, 
and  the  multitudes  in  which  they  occur  in  some  districts  is 
wonderful.  Colonel  Williamson,  in  his  "Oriental  Field 
Sports,"  says:  " About  the  passes  in  the  Jungletery  district 
whole  woods  were  covered  with  the  beautiful  plumage,  to 
which  a  rising  sun  imparted  additional  brilliancy.  I  speak 
within  bounds  when  I  assert  that  there  could  not  have  been 
less  than  1200  or  1500  pea- fowls,  of  various  sizes,  within  sight 
of  the  spot  where  I  stood."  Sir  James  Emerson  Tennent  says, 
in  his  work  on  Ceylon,  "that  in  some  of  the  unfrequented 
portions  of  the  eastern  province,  to  which  Europeans  rarely 
resort,  and  where  the  pea-fowl  are  unmolested  by  the  natives, 
their  number  is  so  extraordinary  that,  regarded  as  game,  it 
ceased  to  be  sport  to  destroy  them ;  and  their  cries  at  early 
morning  are  so  tumultuous  and  incessant  as  to  banish  sleep, 
and  amount  to  an  actual  inconvenience. ' ' 

Story  of  the  Dodo. 

This  extinct  bird  was  a  native  of  Mauritius,  in  the  Indo- 
African  Ocean,  and  was  first  described  by  Van  Neck,  a  Dutch- 
man, in  1598,  in  which  year  a  living  specimen  was  embarked 
for  Holland,  but  died  on  its  way.  This  specimen  is  supposed 
to  have  been  preserved  at  Leyden;  and  one  of  the  feet  is 


believed  to  be  that  in  the  British  Museum.  Several  successive 
voyagers  mention  the  bird,  down  to  Canche,  in  1638,  in  which 
year  a  living  dodo  was  brought  to  England  by  Sir  Hamon 
T  Estrange,  who  describes  the  back  as  of  "dunn  or  deare 
colour."  It  was  exhibited  for  money  in  London,  in  a  house 
which  bore  a  figure  of  the  bird  represented  on  canvas.  This 
specimen  has  been  traced  to  Tradescant's  Museum  at  Lambeth, 
whence  it  was  conveyed,  in  1682,  to  Oxford  by  Ashmole.  The 
body  and  a  leg  were  destroyed  by  vermin  before  1775,  but  the 
other  leg  and  the  head  are  preserved  to  this  day  in  the  Ash- 
molean  Museum,  in  which  place  there  also  is  a  large  drawing 
of  a  dodo,  taken  from  nature,  by  John  Savery.  It  was  not 
related  to  the  ostrich  or  the  vulture,  as  many  have  supposed, 
but  was  closely  allied  to  the  pigeons  and  the  solitaire  bird 
seen  by  Leguat  in  the  Island  of  Rodrigeux  in  1691.  —  Wells. 

An  Old  Gander. 

Willoughby  states,  in  his  work  on  Ornithology,  that  a  friend 
of  his  possessed  a  gander  eighty  years  of  age,  which  in  the  end 
became  so  ferocious  that  they  were  forced  to  kill  it,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  havoc  it  committed  in  the  barn-yard.  He  also 
mentions  a  swan  three  centuries  old  and  several  parrots  that 
attained  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years. 


Chaffinch  Contest. 

At  the  town  of  Armentieres,  in  France,  there  is  a  fete  du 
pays,  in  which  the  chaffinch  and  its  fellows  are  the  chief  actors 
and  objects  of  attraction.  Numbers  of  these  birds  are  trained 
with  the  greatest  care  and  no  small  share  of  cruelty,  for  they 
are  frequently  blinded  by  their  owners,  that  their  song  may 
not  be  interrupted  by  the  sight  of  any  external  object.  The 


270 

point  upon  which  the  amusement,  the  honor  and  the  emolu- 
ment rests  is  the  number  of  times  a  bird  will  repeat  his  song 
in  a  given  time. 

A  day  being  fixed,  the  amateurs  repair  to  the  appointed 
place,  each  with  his  bird  in  a  cage.  The  prize  is  then  dis- 
played, and  the  birds  are  placed  in  a  row.  A  bird-fancier 
notes  how  many  times  each  bird  sings,  and  another  verifies 
his  notes.  In  the  year  1812,  a  chaffinch  repeated  his  song 
seven  hundred  times  in  one  hour.  Emulated  by  the  songs  of 
each  other,  they  strain  their  little  plumed  throats,  as  if  con- 
scious that  honor  was  to  result  from  their  exertions. 

The  Fabulous  Hoc. 

The  roc,  the  huge  bird  that  gave  Sindbad  the  sailor  his 
ride  through  the  air,  is  not  to  be  compared  with  some  of  those 
mentioned  in  the  Talmud.  Some  mariners  saw  one  of  those 
large  birds  standing  up  to  the  lower  joint  of  the  leg  in  a 
river,  and  thinking  the  water  could  not  be  deep,  they  were 
hastening  to  bathe,  when  a  voice  from  heaven  said:  "Step 
not  in  there ;  seven  years  ago  a  carpenter  dropped  his  axe 
there,  and  it  hath  not  yet  reached  the  bottom." 

Fable  of  the  Pelican. 

The  pelicans  are  said  to  carry  water  to  their  young,  as  well 
as  food,  in  their  pouch.  During  the  night  the  pelican  sits 
with  its  bill  resting  on  its  breast.  The  nail  or  hook  which 
terminates  the  bill  is  red,  and  Mr.  Broderip  supposes  that  the 
ancient  fable  of  the  pelican  feeding  its  young  with  blood  from 
its  own  breast  originated  from  its  habit  of  pressing  the  bill 
upon  the  breast  in  order  the  more  easily  to  empty  the  pouch, 
when  the  red  tip  might  be  mistaken  for  blood. 


211 

Night  Owls. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  in  all  owls  that  fly  by  night  the 
exterior  edges  and  sides  of  the  wing-quills  are  slightly  recurved, 
and  end  in  fine  hairs  or  points,  by  means  of  which  the  bird 
can  pass  through  the  air  with  the  greatest  silence — a  provision 
necessary  to  enable  it  the  better  to  surprise  its  prey. — Adam 
White. 

Imprisoned  During  Incubation. 

In  his  work  on  "The  Birds  of  India,"  M.  Jerdon  details 
the  curious  domestic  arrangements  of  some  species  of  the 
genus  Homrain  of  French  naturalists,  the  males  of  which,  at 
the  time  of  laying,  imprison  the  female  in  her  nest.  They 
close  the  entrance  to  it  by  means  of  a  thick  wall  of  mud,  leav- 
ing only  a  small  hole  by  which  the  hen  breathes  and  through 
which  she  protrudes  her  beak  to  receive  food,  which  is  brought 
by  her  spouse.  Though  barbarous  enough  to  imprison  her,  he 
is  not  cruel  enough  to  starve  her.  This  forced  retirement 
only  ceases  with  the  termination  of  the  hatching,  when  the 
pair  break  the  prison  door. 

Love-Birds. 

These  birds  receive  their  name  from  the  affection  which 
they  manifest  towards  one  another.  Anatomically,  this  genus 
is  remarkable  in  the  parrot  tribe  for  having  no  furcula,  01 
merry-thought  bone. 

Penguin  Breeding  Grounds. 

These  birds  often  occupy  acres  for  their  breeding  ground, 
which  is  laid  out  and  leveled  and  divided  into  squares,  as 
nicely  as  if  done  by  a  surveyor.  They  march  between  the 


212 

compartments  as  accurately  as  soldiers  on  parade,  and  some- 
what resembling  them  from  a  distance,  or,  according  to 
another  similitude  which  has  been  used,  looking  like  bands  of 
little  children  in  white  aprons.  Bennett  describes  one  breed- 
ing ground  on  Macquarie  Island  as  covering  thirty  or  forty 
acres,  and,  to  give  some  notion  of  the  multitudes,  speaks  of 
30,000  or  40,000  birds  as  continually  landing,  and  as  many 
putting  to  sea. 

The  Ear  of  Birds  not  to  be  Deceived. 

A  bird-catcher,  wishing  to  increase  his  stock  of  bullfinches, 
took  out  his  caged  bird  and  his  limed  twigs  and  placed  them 
in  such  a  situation  of  hedge  and  bush  as  he  judged  favorable 
to  his  success.  It  so  happened  that  his  own  bird  was  an  edu- 
cated one,  such  as  is  usually  termed  a  piping  bullfinch.  In 
the  first  instance  a  few  accidentally  thrown  out  natural  notes 
or  calls  had  attracted  three  or  four  of  his  kindred  feather, 
which  had  taken  their  station  not  far  distant  from  the  cage. 
There  they  stood  in  doubt  and  curiosity,  and,  presently,  moving 
inch  by  inch  and  hop  by  hop  toward  him  and  the  fatal  twigs, 
they  again  became  stationary  and  attentive.  It  was  in  this 
eager  and  suspended  moment  that  the  piping  bullfinch  set  up 
the  old  country  dance-tune  of  "Nancy  Dawson."  Away  flew 
every  astonished  bullfinch  as  fast  as  wings  could  move,  in  con- 
fusion and  alarm. 

A  Bird  Hammock. 

In  his  voyage  to  India,  Sonnerat  speaks  of  a  Cape  titmouse, 
the  nest  of  which  is  made  of  cotton  and  is  shaped  like  a  bottle. 
While  the  female  is  hatching  inside,  the  male,  a  most  watch- 
ful sentinel,  remains  outside  in  a  pouch  or  hammock,  fixed  to 
one  side  of  the  neck  of  the  nest.  When  his  mate  moves  off 
and  he  wishes  to  follow  her,  he  beats  the  opening  of  the  nest 


273 

violently  with  his  wing  until  he  closes  it,  in  order  to  protect 
the  young  from  enemies. 

Sagacity  of  a  Bird. 

In  the  museum  of  Brown  University,  Providence,  R.  I.,  is  a 
curiosity  in  the  shape  of  a  bird's  nest.  Aside  from  its  ingenious 
construction  as  a  swinging  nest,  partly  suspended  by  strings 
and  cords  carefully  woven  into  it  and  around  the  slender 
branch  which  holds  it,  another  evidence  of  the  builder's 
sagacity  is  given.  As  the  young  birds  grew,  and  the  nest 
daily  became  heavier,  the  mother  saw  that  the  slender  twig, 
about  the  thickness  of  a  pipe-stem,  to  which  it  was  attached, 
could  not  support  it  much  longer,  so  she  made  it  secure  by 
fastening  a  stout  cord  about  it  and  passing  the  end  around  a 
strong  limb  above,  which  steadied  it  and  made  it  safe. 


Change  of  Sight  in  Birds. 

Birds  destined  to  move  in  the  medium  of  a  very  rare  atmo- 
sphere and  which  has  but  little  tendency  to  refract  the  rays 
of  the  sun,  have  a  great  quantity  of  aqueous  humor,  in  order 
that  the  light,  strongly  refracted  in  entering  their  eyes,  may 
bring  distinct  images.  Thus  birds  at  heights  where  they 
appear  to  us  only  as  points,  perceive  the  smallest  reptile  con- 
cealed in  the  grass.  But,  as  presbyte  birds  do  not  distinguish 
objects  when  brought  near,  nature  has  provided  for  this  diffi- 
culty, which  occurs  when  they  descend  from  the  heights  of  the 
air  to  seize  their  prey.  To  provide  for  this  emergency,  they 
have  a  membrane,  by  means  of  which  they  remove  the  crys- 
talline lens  from  the  retina;  and  thus  changing  the  power  of 
the  eye  by  changing  the  focal  distance  of  objects,  as  we  do 
with  spectacles,  they  never  lose  sight  of  their  prey,  whether 
in  the  air  or  on  the  ground. 


974 

Nest  of  the  Flamingo. 

The  flamingo  arranges  its  nest  in  a  peculiar  way,  as  its  long 
legs  would  not  adapt  themselves  to  the  ordinary  style  of  nest- 
building.  The  nests  are  placed  upon  the  ground,  are  built 
solely  of  coarsely-tempered  mud,  and  are  very  curiously 
shaped,  being  like  narrow,  lengthened  cones.  They  are  twenty 
inches  in  height,  and  their  truncated  summit  presents  a  con- 
cavity, at  the  bottom  of  which  the  female  deposits  her  eggs. 
In  order  to  hatch  them  she  places  her  abdomen  over  them, 
and  allows  her  legs  to  hang  down  on  both  sides  of  the  raised 
nest. 

Barking  of  Dogs. 

The  Australian  dog  never  barks ;  indeed,  Gardiner,  in  his 
"Music  of  Nature,"  states  "that  dogs  in  a  state  of  nature 
never  bark ;  they  simply  whine,  howl  and  growl ;  the  explo- 
sive noise  is  only  heard  among  those  which  are  domesticated." 
Sonnini  speaks  of  the  shepherd  dogs  in  the  wilds  of  Egypt  as 
not  having  this  faculty ;  and  Columbus  found  the  dogs  which 
he  had  previously  carried  to  America  to  have  lost  their  pro- 
pensity for  barking. 

Superstitions  about  Eggs. 

Thiers,  in  his  "Trait£  des  Superstitions,"  observes  that  he 
has  known  people  who  preserved  all  the  year  such  eggs  as  are 
laid  on  Good  Friday,  as  they  think  them  good  to  extinguish 
fires  when  thrown  on  them. 

People  in  the  northern  parts  of  Germany,  remarks  William 
Jones,  say  that  to  cross  one's  face  with  the  first  new-laid  egg 
of  a  chicken  that  has  been  hatched  in  spring  and  begins  to 
lay  shortly  before  Christmas  of  the  same  year,  is  considered 
the  means  of  improving  and  beautifying  the  complexion. 


2*5 

Carnden,  in  his  "Ancient  and  Modern  Manners  of  the 
Irish,"  says  that  if  the  owners  of  horses  eat  eggs,  they  must 
take  care  to  eat  an  even  number,  otherwise  some  mischief  will 
betide  the  horses.  Grooms  are  not  allowed  eggs,  and  the 
riders  are  obliged  to  wash  their  hands  after  eating  eggs. 

In  Derbyshire  it  is  considered  a  bad  omen  to  gather  eggs 
and  bring  them  into  the  house  after  dark.  Eggs  ought  not  to 
be  brought  in  on  Sunday,  and  no  hen  must  be  set  on  that 
day.  The  number  of  eggs  for  a  setting  must  be  either  eleven 
or  thirteen ;  the  number  must  be  odd,  and  if  twelve  eggs  are 
sat  upon,  the  hen  will  scarcely  succeed  in  hatching  them ;  or, 
if  hatched,  the  chickens  will  do  no  good. 

In  some  parts  of  England  it  is  believed  that  the  first  egg 
laid  by  a  white  pullet,  placed  under  the  pillow  at  night,  will 
bring  dreams  of  those  you  wish  to  marry. 

In  some  parts  of  Java,  at  a  wedding,  the  bride,  as  a  sign  of 
her  subjection,  kneels  and  washes  the  feet  of  the  bridegroom, 
after  he  has  trodden  upon  raw  eggs. 

In  Ireland,  at  Hallow  E'en,  among  other  curious  customs, 
the  women  take  the  yolks  from  some  eggs  boiled  hard,  fill  the 
cavity  with  salt,  and  eat  egg,  shell  and  salt.  They  are  care- 
ful not  to  quench  their  thirst  until  morning.  If  at  night  they 
dream  that  their  lovers  are  at  hand  with  water,  they  believe 
they  will  be  jilted. 

The  Camel  as  a  Scape- Croat. 

A  very  singular  account  of  the  use  to  which  a  camel  is 
sometimes  put  is  given  by  the  traveler  Bruce.  He  tells  us 
that  he  saw  one  employed  to  appease  a  quarrel  between  two 
parties,  somewhat  in  the  same  way  as  the  scape-goat  was  used 
in  the  religious  sacrifices  of  the  Jewish  people.  The  camel 
being  brought  out,  was  accused  of  all  the  injuries,  real  or 
fancied,  which  belonged  to  each.  All  the  mischief  that  had 


276 


been  done  they  accused  this  camel  of  doing.  They  upbraideC 
it  with  being  the  cause  of  all  the  trouble  that  had  separated 
friends,  called  it  by  every  opprobious  epithet,  finally  killed  it, 
and  then  declared  themselves  reconciled  over  its  body. 


The  Mark  of  the  Cross  on  the  Ass. 

It  is  a  common  superstition  that  the  dark  marks  across  the 
shoulders  of  the  ass,  and  which  bear  some  resemblance  to  a 
cross,  were  given  as  memorials  of  our  Saviour  having  entered 
Jerusalem  riding  on  one  of  that  humble  species.  In  the  north 
of  England,  however,  a  tradition  prevails  that  the  dark  streaks 
are  a  memento  of  Balaam's  having  thrice  smitten  one  of  the 
family,  which  carried  him,  and,  as  the  Bible  states,  reproved 
him  for  wilful  disobedience  of  the  Divine  command. 


White  Elephants. 

White  elephants  are  reverenced  throughout  the  East,  and 
the  Chinese  pay  them  a  certain  kind  of  worship.  The  Bur- 
mese monarch  is  called  "  The  King  of  the  White  Elephants," 
and  is  regarded  under  that  title  with  more  than  ordinary  ven- 
eration, which  oriental  despotism  extracts  from  its  abject 
dependants. 

Tenacity  of  Life  in  an  Elephant. 

In  March,  1826,  it  became  necessary  to  kill  an  infuriated 
elephant  at  Exeter  Change,  in  London.  One  hundred  and 
fifty-two  bullets  were  fired  into  him  at  short  range,  and 
directed  toward  vital  parts,  before  he  fell  dead.  It  was  found 
necessary  to  kill  an  elephant  at  Geneva,  May  jist,  1820. 
Three  ounces  of  prussic  acid  and  three  ounces  of  arsenic  were 


277 

administered,  but  produced  no  effect.  He  was  shot  by  a  cannon 
thrust  through  a  breach  in  the  wall,  the  muzzle  almost  touch- 
ing him.  The  ball  entered  near  the  ear,  behind  the  right 
eye,  went  through  a  thick  partition  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  enclosure,  and  spent  itself  against  a  wall.  The  animal 
stood  still  two  or  three  seconds,  then  tottered,  and  fell  with- 
out any  convulsive  movement. 

Ears  of  the  Elephant. 

The  ears  of  the  African  elephant  are  said  to  be  much  larger, 
in  proportion  to  the  size  of  the  animal,  than  those  of  the 
Indian  species.  Baker,  the  African  traveler,  says  that  he  has 
frequently  cut  off  an  ear  of  one  of  these  animals  to  form  a  mat, 
on  which  he  has  slept  comfortably. 

A  Shaved  Bear. 

"At  Bristol  I  saw  a  shaved  monkey  shown  for  a  fairy,  and 
a  shaved  bear,  in  a  check  waistcoat  and  trousers,  sitting  in  a 
great  chair  as  an  Ethiopian  savage.  This  was  the  most  cruel 
fraud  I  ever  saw.  The  unnatural  position  of  the  beast  and 
the  brutality  of  the  woman  keeper,  who  sat  upon  his  knee,  put 
her  arm  around  his  neck,  called  him  husband  and  sweetheart, 
and  kissed  him,  made  it  the  most  disgusting  spectacle  I  ever 
witnessed.  Cottle  was  with  me. — Southty. 

Retailing  a  Lion. 

A  lion  in  a  Cincinnati  menagerie  recently  lost  a  part  of  his 
tail.  A  vicious  hyena,  confined  in  an  adjoining  cage,  nipped 
it  off,  for  want  of  something  better  or  worse  to  do.  The 
Enquirer  of  that  city  tells  the  sequel  of  the  story — 


278 

"The  noble  king  of  the  woods  was  much  mortified  in  con- 
sequence, and  it  was  feared  would  worry  himself  to  death. 
He  kept  continually  biting  his  tail  and  playing  all  kinds  of 
mysterious  pranks  in  his  cage.  Two  men  were  kept  contin- 
ually employed,  at  an  expense  of  $21  a  week  each,  to  watch 
the  lion  and  prevent  him  from  further  injury  upon  himself. 

"Mr.  John  Carney,  the  new  superintendent  of  the  Zoological 
Gardens,  devised  a  plan  for  the  pacification  of  the  king  of  the 
forest,  which  has  succeeded  beyond  the  most  sanguine  expec- 
tations. He  had  a  small  box-cage  constructed  adjoining  the 
lion's  cell,  and  coaxed  the  wounded  beast  therein.  The  cage 
was  so  constructed  that  the  lion  could  not  turn  about  in  it. 
Once  in,  his  tail  was  treated  medically,  and  covered  with 
a  black  snake's  skin.  The  lion  now  seems  perfectly  satisfied 
with  the  amendment  to  his  tail,  and  holds  his  head  as  erect 
and  is  as  proud  as  ever.  Mr.  Carney  is  a  genius. ' ' 

Magpie  Stoning  a  Toad. 

There  is  a  story  told  of  a  tame  magpie  which  was  seen 
busily  employed  in  a  garden  gathering  pebbles,  and  with 
much  solemnity  and  a  studied  air  dropping  them  into  a  hole 
about  eighteen  inches  deep,  made  to  receive  a  post.  After 
dropping  each  stone  it  cried  "Currack"  triumphantly,  and  set 
off  for  another.  On  examining  the  spot,  a  poor  toad  was 
found  in  the  hole,  which  the  magpie  was  stoning  for  his 
amusement. 

Cynocephalic  Apes. 

A  correspondent  in  the  "Transvaal  Republic"  writes  that  a 
species  of  large  cynocephalic  apes  are  in  the  habit  of  ravaging 
the  coffee  plantations  there,  which  therefore  have  to  be 
guarded.  Among  the  coffee  trees  there  grows  a  shrub  whose 


279 

fruit  the  apes  particularly  enjoy.  But  a  species  of  wasp  had 
fastened  their  nests  to  these  shrubs,  and  the  apes  were  kept 
from  their  tempting  food  by  their  fear  of  being  stung.  One 
morning  fearful  cries  were  heard  from  the  apes,  and  the  fol- 
lowing scene  was  witnessed :  A  large  baboon,  the  leader  of  the 
band,  was  throwing  some  young  apes  down  into  the  shrubs, 
that  they  might  break  off  the  wasp  nests  with  the  shock  of 
their  fall.  The  poor  victims,  stung  by  the  infuriated  insects, 
were  crying  piteously,  but  the  old  baboon  paid  no  heed  to 
their  miserable  condition.  While  they  were  down  below,  suf- 
fering from  the  anger  of  the  wasps,  he  quietly  proceeded  to 
regale  himself  with  the  fruit,  now  safely  within  his  reach,  and 
occasionally  threw  a  handful  to  some  females  and  young  a 
little  way  off. 

Monkeys  Demanding  their  Dead. 

Mr.  Forbes  tells  a  story  of  a  female  monkey  who  was  shot 
by  a  friend  of  his  and  carried  to  his  tent.  Forty  or  fifty  of 
her  tribe  advanced  with  menacing  gestures,  but  stood  still 
when  the  gentleman  pointed  his  gun  at  them.  One,  however, 
who  appeared  to  be  the  chief  of  the  tribe,  came  forward,  chat- 
tering and  threatening  in  a  furious  manner.  Nothing  short 
of  firing  at  him  seemed  likely  to  drive  him  away.  At  length 
he  approached  the  door  of  the  tent  with  every  sign  of  grief 
and  supplication,  as  if  he  were  begging  for  the  body.  It  was 
given  to  him;  he  took  it  in  his  arms  and  carried  it  to  his  com- 
panions with  actions  expressive  of  affection,  after  which  they 
all  disappeared. 

Can  Dogs  Count? 

A  gentleman  on  a  visit  to  Scotland  came  across  some  men 
who  were  washing  sheep.  Close  to  the  water  where  the 
operation  was  being  carried  on  was  a  small  pen,  in  which  a 


280 

detatchment  of  ten  sheep  were  placed  handy  to  the  men  for 
washing.  While  watching  the  performance  his  attention  was 
called  to  a  sheep-dog  lying  down  close  by.  This  animal,  on 
the  pen  becoming  nearly  empty,  without  a  word  from  any 
one,  started  off  to  the  main  body  of  the  flock,  and  brought 
back  ten  of  their  number,  and  drove  them  into  the  empty 
washing-pens.  The  fact  of  his  bringing  exactly  the  same 
number  of  sheep  as  had  vacated  it  he  looked  upon  at  first  as  a 
strange  coincidence — a  mere  chance.  But  he  continued  look- 
ing on,  and,  much  to  his  surprise,  as  soon  as  the  men  had 
reduced  the  number  to  three  sheep,  the  dog  started  off  again, 
and  brought  back  ten  more,  and  so  he  continued  throughout 
the  afternoon,  never  bringing  one  more  nor  one  less,  and 
always  going  for  a  fresh  lot  when  only  three  were  left  in  the 
pen,  evidently  being  aware  that  during  the  time  the  last  three 
were  washing  he  would  be  able  to  bring  up  a  fresh  detachment. 

Can  Hens  Count? 

On  one  occasion  the  author  found  a  hen  disposed  to  set  in 
a  horse-trough.  She  had  but  eight  eggs  under  her,  and  he 
added  five  more.  The  next  morning  he  noticed  that  she  had 
discarded  five  of  the  eggs ;  they  were  replaced,  and  were  again 
hustled  to  the  other  end  of  the  trough.  He  next  marked  the 
eggs,  in  order  to  discover  whether  she  objected  to  the  five  eggs 
with  which  he  had  supplied  her.  At  his  next  visit  he  found 
that  she  had  once  more  rejected  five  eggs,  two  of  which  were 
marked  and  three  not  marked.  She  would  accept  but  eight 
eggs,  and  was  left  to  incubate  in  peace. 

How  Rats  and  Mice  use  their  Tails. 

To  test  the  correctness  of  the  popular  belief  that  rats  and 
mice  use  their  tails  for  feeding  purposes,  when  the  food  to  be 


281 

eaten  is  contained  in  vessels  too  narrow  to  admit  the  entire 
body  of  the  animal,  a  writer  in  "Nature"  made  the  following 
experiments :  Into  a  couple  of  preserve  bottles  with  narrow 
necks  he  put  as  much  semi-liquid  fruit  jelly  as  filled  them 
within  three  inches  of  the  top.  The  bottles  were  then  covered 
with  bladder  and  set  in  a  place  frequented  by  rats.  Next 
morning  the  covering  of  each  bottle  had  a  small  hole  gnawed 
in  it,  and  the  level  of  the  jelly  was  lowered  to  an  extent  about 
equal  to  the  length  of  a  rat's  tail,  if  inserted  in  the  hole.  The 
next  experiment  was  still  more  decisive.  The  bottles  were 
refilled  to  the  extent  of  half  an  inch  above  the  level  left  by 
the  rats,  a  disk  of  moist  paper  laid  upon  the  surface,  and  the 
bottles  covered  as  before.  The  bottles  were  now  laid  aside 
in  a  place  unfrequented  by  rats,  until  a  good  crop  of  mould 
had  grown  upon  one  of  the  moistened  disks  of  paper.  This 
bottle  was  then  transferred  to  the  place  infested  by  the  rats. 
Next  morning  the  bladder  had  again  been  eaten  through  at 
one  edge,  and  upon  the  mould  were  numerous  and  distinct 
tracings  of  the  rats'  tails,  evidently  caused  by  the  animals 
sweeping  their  tails  about  in  the  endeavor  to  find  a  hole  in 
the  paper. 

Kicked  by  a  Camel. 

The  camel's  kick  is  a  study.  As  it  stands  demurely  chew, 
ing  the  cud,  and  gazing  abstractedly  at  some  totally  different 
far-away  object,  up  goes  a  hind  leg,  drawn  close  in  to  the 
body,  with  the  foot  pointing  out ;  a  short  pause,  and  out  it 
flies  with  an  action  like  the  piston  and  connecting-rod  of  a 
steam-engine,  showing  a  judgment  of  distance  and  direction 
that  would  lead  you  to  suppose  the  leg  gifted  with  perceptions 
of  its  own,  independent  of  the  animal's  proper  senses.  I 
have  seen  a  heavy  man  fired  several  yards  into  a  dense  crowd 
by  the  kick  of  a  camel,  and  picked  up  insensible. — Keane. 


Crocodiles  of  the  Nile. 

The  crocodile  of  the  Nile  is  one  of  the  most  celebrated  of 
the  eastern  species.  Among  the  ancient  Egyptians  it  was  a 
sacred  animal,  and  to  destroy  it  was  a  crime.  The  priests 
kept  crocodiles  in  tanks  in  the  temple  grounds ;  they  orna- 
mented them  with  jewels  and  fed  them  with  the  choicest  food. 
After  death  the  bodies  were  carefully  embalmed  and  buried 
with  great  ceremony,  and  it  is  not  uncommon  at  this  date  to 
find  crocodile  mummies  in  their  tombs. 


Alligators  Swallowing  Stones. 

The  alligators  on  the  banks  of  the  Oronoko,  previous  to 
going  in  search  of  prey,  swallow  large  stones,  that  they  may 
acquire  additional  weight  to  aid  them  in  diving  and  dragging 
their  victims  under  water.  Bolivar  shot  several  with  his  rifle, 
and  in  all  of  them  were  found  stones  varying  in  weight  accord- 
ing to  the  size  of  the  animal.  The  largest  killed  was  about 
seventeen  feet  in  length,  and  had  within  him  a  stone  which 
weighed  sixty  or  seventy  pounds. 


Animals  Forecasting  Danger. 

That  animals  forebode  the  approach  of  an  earthquake  is  a 
fact  which  frequently  has  been  demonstrated.  When  no  sign 
announces  to  unthinking  man  the  coming  terror,  these  crea- 
tures indicate  it  by  their  agitation  and  their  cries.  Every 
animal,  without  exception,  feels  this  singular  presentiment, 
but  it  has  been  more  particularly  observed  among  the  poultry 
in  the  barn-yard.  Dogs  howl  distressingly,  and  great  restless- 
ness is  shown  by  horses  and  oxen  in  the  open  country. 

Humboldt  relates  that,  in  the  earthquakes  so  frequent  in 
bouth  America,  oxen  and  other  domesticated  animals  will 


283 

stand  with  their  legs  placed  wide  apart,  as  if  they  hoped  by 
that  device  to  lessen  the  danger  of  being  precipitated  into  a 
crevasse  which  might  suddenly  open  under  their  feet.  It  is 
for  this  reason  that  men  in  the  same  regions  are  advised,  on 
the  occurrence  of  an  earthquake,  to  extend  their  arms  from 
their  bodies  in  the  shape  of  a  cross.  The  precaution  is  one 
which  tradition  and  experience  have  impressed  on  the  inhabit- 
ants. 

Singular  Provision  against  Famine. 

The  synapta  is  a  marine  animal  closely  allied  to  the  sea- 
cucumber.  If  one  of  them  is  preserved  in  sea-water  for  a 
short  time,  and  subjected  to  a  forced  fast,  a  very  strange  thing 
will  be  observed.  The  animal,  being  unable  to  feed  itself, 
successively  detaches  various  parts  of  its  body,  which  it  ampu- 
tates spontaneously.  ' '  It  would  appear, ' '  says  M.  Quatrefages, 
"that  the  animal,  feeling  that  it  had  not  sufficient  food  to 
support  its  whole  body,  is  able  successively  to  abridge  its 
dimensions  by  suppressing  the  parts  it  would  be  most  difficult 
to  support,  just  as  we  should  dismiss  the  most  useless  mouths 
from  a  besieged  city."  This  singular  mode  of  meeting  a  fam- 
ine is  employed  by  the  synapta  up  to  the  last  moment.  In 
order  to  preserve  life  in  the  head,  all  the  other  parts  of  the 
body  are  sacrificed. 

Looking  for  the  Head  of  the  Bed. 

Every  one  has  observed  that  dogs,  before  they  lie  down,  turn 
themselves  round  and  round,  which  has  been  facetiously  called 
"looking  for  the  head  of  the  bed."  Those  who  have  had  an 
opportunity  of  witnessing  the  actions  of  uninaals  in  a  wild 
state,  know  that  they  seek  long  grass  for  their  beds,  which 
they  beat  down  and  render  more  commodious  by  turning 
around  in  it  several  times.  It  would  appear,  therefore,  that 


284 

the  habit  of  our  domesticated  dogs  in  this  respect  is  derived 
from  the  nature  of  the  same  species  in  the  wild  state. — Mr. 
Jesse. 

Getting  Himself  Outside  of  his  Dinner. 

The  intelligence  of  a  toad  is  remarkable.  When  an  insect 
is  too  large  to  swallow,  it  thrusts  the  creature  against  a  stone 
to  push  it  down  its  throat.  On  one  occasion,  when  a  toad 
was  attempting  to  swallow  a  locust,  the  head  was  down  the 
former's  throat,  the  hinder  part  protruding.  The  toad  then 
sought  a  stone  or  clod,  but  as  none  were  to  be  found,  he 
lowered  his  head  and  crept  along,  pushing  the  locust  against 
the  ground.  But  the  ground  was  too  smooth  (a  rolled  path), 
and  the  angle  at  which  the  locust  lay  to  the  ground  too  small, 
and  thus  no  progress  was  made.  To  increase  the  angle,  he 
straightened  up  his  hind  legs,  but  in  vain.  At  length  he 
threw  up  his  hind  quarters,  and  actually  stood  on  his  head, 
or,  rather,  on  the  locust  sticking  out  of  his  mouth ;  and,  aftei 
repeating  this  several  times,  succeeded  in  getting  himself  out- 
side of  his  dinner. 


Superstition  about  the  Camel. 

The  Orientals  declare  that,  at  the  time  of  the  rising  of  the 
Pleiades,  the  camel  sees  the  constellation  before  it  is  visible 
to  the  human  eye,  and  will  not  lie  down  in  any  other  direc- 
tion than  with  its  head  toward  the  east. 


Pedigree  of  Arabian  Horses. 

The  Arabs  claim  that  their  finest  horses  are  direct  descend- 
ants of  the  stud  of  Solomon.  The  pedigree  of  an  Arabian 
horse  is  hung  around  his  neck  soon  after  his  birth,  properly 


285 

witnessed  and  attested.     The  following  is  the  pedigree  of  a 
horse  purchased  by  a  French  officer  in  Arabia :  — 

"In  the  name  of  God,  the  merciful  and  compassionate, 
and  of  Saed  Mahomed,  agent  of  the  high  God,  and  of  the 
companions  of  Mahomed,  and  of  Jerusalem.  Praised  be  the 
Lord,  the  omnipotent  Creator.  This  is  a  high-bred  horse, 
and  its  colt's  tooth  is  here  in  a  bag  about  his  neck,  with  his 
pedigree,  and  of  undoubted  authority,  such  as  no  infidel  can 
refuse  to  believe.  He  is  the  son  of  Rabbamy,  out  of  the  dam 
Labadah,  and  equal  in  power  to  his  sire  of  the  tribe  of  Zaz- 
halah ;  he  is  finely  moulded,  and  made  for  running  like  an 
ostrich.  In  the  honors  of  relationship  he  reckons  Zuluah, 
sire  of  Mahat,  sire  of  Kallac,  and  the  unique  Alket,  sire  of 
Manasseh,  sire  of  Alsheh,  father  of  the  race  down  to  the 
famous  horse,  the  sire  of  Lahalala.  And  to  him  be  ever 
abundance  of  green  meat  and  corn,  and  water  of  life,  as  a 
reward  from  the  tribe  of  Zazhalaha;  and  may  a  thousand 
branches  shade  his  carcass  from  the  hyaena  of  the  tomb,  from 
the  howling  wolf  of  the  desert ;  and  let  the  tribe  of  Zazhalah 
present  him  with  a  festival  within  an  enclosure  of  walls ;  and 
let  thousands  assemble  at  the  rising  of  the  sun  in  troops  has- 
tily, where  the  tribe  holds  up,  under  a  canopy  of  celestial 
signs  within  the  walls,  the  saddle  with  the  name  and  family 
of  the  possessor.  Then  let  them  strike  the  bands  with  a  loud 
noise  incessantly,  and  pray  to  God  for  immunity  for  the  tribe 
of  Zoab,  the  inspired  tribe. ' ' 


Voracity  of  the  Mole. 

A  naturalist  has  calculated  that  a  mole  devours  annually 
20,000  grubs.  It  is  so  voracious  that  it  must  cat  every  six 
nours.  No  animal  is  so  favored  in  its  carnivorous  instincts  as 
the  mole;  forty-four  teeth  studded  with  points  never  cease 
working  from  morning  to  night.  It  requires  nourishment  to 


286 

such  an  extent,  that  if  deprived  of  food  for  a  day  it  dies  of 
inanition.  It  is  a  complete  eating  machine,  gulping  down 
every  day  a  proportionately  enormous  quantity  of  food,  so  that 
M.  de  la  Blanch6re  was  right  in  saying  that  "if  we  could 
magnify  the  mole  to  the  size  of  an  elephant,  we  should  be 
face  to  face  with  the  most  terrific  brute  the  world  ever  brought 
forth." 

Cat  Worship. 

In  the  Middle  Ages  animals  formed  as  prominent  a  part  in 
the  worship  of  the  time  as  they  did  in  the  old  religion  of 
Egypt.  The  cat  was  a  very  important  personage  in  religious 
festivals.  At  Aix,  in  Provence,  on  the  festival  of  Corpus 
Christi,  the  finest  torn  cat  of  the  country,  wrapt  in  swaddling 
clothes  like  a  child,  was  exhibited  in  a  magnificent  shrine  to 
public  admiration.  Every  knee  was  bent,  every  hand  strewed 
flowers  or  poured  incense,  and  the  cat  was  treated  in  all 
respects  as  the  god  of  the  day. 


Horses  Feeding  one  Another. 

M.  de  Bossanelle,  captain  of  cavalry  in  the  regiment  of 
Beauvilliers,  relates  in  his  "Military  Observations,"  printed  in 
Paris  in  1760,  "that  in  the  year  1757  an  old  horse  of  his  com- 
pany, that  was  very  fine  and  full  of  mettle,  had  his  teeth  sud- 
denly so  worn  down  that  he  could  not  chew  his  hay  and  corn, 
and  that  he  was  fed  for  two  months,  and  would  still  have  been 
so  fed  had  he  been  kept,  by  two  horses  on  each  side  of  him 
that  ate  in  the  same  manger.  These  two  horses  drew  hay 
from  the  rack,  which  they  chewed,  and  afterward  threw  before 
the  old  horse ;  that  they  did  the  same  with  the  oats,  which 
they  ground  very  small  and  also  put  before  him.  This  was 
observed  and  witnessed  by  a  whole  company  of  cavalry, 
officers  and  men.'* 


287 

Odd  Mode  of  Revenge. 

Monkeys  in  India  are  more  or  less  objects  of  superstitious 
reverence,  and  are,  consequently,  seldom  destroyed.  In  some 
places  they  are  fed,  encouraged  and  allowed  to  live  on  the 
roofs  of  the  houses.  If  a  man  wishes  to  revenge  himself  for 
any  injury  done  him,  he  has  only  to  sprinkle  some  rice  or 
corn  upon  the  top  of  his  enemy's  house  or  granary,  just  before 
the  rains  set  in,  and  the  monkeys  will  assemble  upon  it,  eat 
all  they  can  find  outside,  and  then  pull  off  the  tiles  to  get  at 
that  which  falls  through  the  crevices.  This,  of  course,  gives 
access  to  the  torrents  which  fall  in  such  countries,  and  house, 
furniture  and  stores  are  all  ruined. 


Cats  with  Knotted  Tails. 

We  extract  the  following  paragraph  from  the  narrative  of  a 
voyager  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  because  it  contains  an  account 
of  a  rarity  in  natural  history  with  which  few,  we  suspect,  are 
acquainted : — 

"  The  steward  is  again  pillowed  on  his  beloved  saltfish,  and 
our  only  companion  is  a  Malacca  cat,  who  has  also  an  attach- 
ment for  the  steward's  pillow.  Puss  is  a  tame  little  creature 
and  rubs  herself  mildly  against  our  shoes,  looking  up  in  our 
faces  and  mewing  her  thoughts.  Doubtless  she  is  surprised 
that  you  have  been  so  long  looking  at  her  without  noticing 
the  peculiarity  in  her  tail,  which  so  much  distinguishes  her 
from  the  rest  of  the  female  race  in  other  quarters  of  the  globe. 
Did  you  ever  observe  such  a  singular  knot  ?  so  regular,  too, 
in  its  formation?  Some  cruel  monster  must  have  tied  it  in  a 
knot  while  puss  was  yet  a  kitten,  and  she  has  outlived  both 
the  pain  and  the  inconvenience.  But  here  comes  a  kitten,  all 
full  of  gambols  and  fun,  and  we  find  that  the  tail  is  in  pre- 
cisely the  same  condition.  So,  then,  this  is  a  remarkable 


288 

feature  amongst  the  whole  race  of  Malayan  cats,  but  for  which 
no  one  we  meet  with  is  able  to  give  us  a  satisfactory  explana- 
tion." 

Tortoises  Afraid  of  Heat  and  Rain. 

Tortoises  seem,  by  their  thick  shells,  to  be  protected  against 
all  changes  of  the  weather.  But  one  of  immense  size,  impor- 
ted from  the  Galapagos  Islands  to  England,  was  actually  afraid 
of  rain.  Its  owner  says :  "  No  part  of  its  behaviour  ever  struck 
me  more  than  the  extreme  timidity  it  always  expresses  with 
regard  to  rain ;  and  though  it  has  a  shell  that  would  secure  it 
against  a  loaded  cart,  yet  it  exhibits  as  much  solicitude  about 
rain  as  a  lady  dressed  in  her  best  attire,  shuffling  away  on  the 
first  sprinklings  and  running  its  head  into  a  corner.  If 
attended  to,  it  becomes  an  excellent  weather  glass;  for  as  sure 
as  it  walks  elate,  and  as  it  were  on  tip-toe,  feeding  with  great 
earnestness  in  the  morning,  so  sure  will  it  rain  before  night." 
The  same  tortoise  was  careful  to  keep  out  of  the  hot  sun,  and 
always  sought  a  shady  nook  at  mid-day  in  summer. 


Pea  Crabs. 

The  fact  that  these  small  crabs  take  up  their  abode  within 
the  shells  of  mollusks  was  well  known  to  the  ancients,  and 
gave  rise  to  many  curious  fables.  A  species  is  very  common 
in  the  pinnae  (mollusks)  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  was 
imagined  to  render  important  services  to  its  host  in  return 
for  its  lodging,  keeping  a  lookout  for  approaching  dangers, 
against  which  the  blind  pinna  itself  could  not  guard,  and  par- 
ticularly apprising  it,  that  it  might  close  its  shell  when  the 
cuttle-fish  came  near.  It  is  curious  to  find  this  repeated  by 
Hasselquist,  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  as  a  piece  of 
genuine  natural  history.  Whether  the  pea  crab  lives  at  the 


389 

expense  of  the  mollusk,  and  sucks  its  juices,  is  uncertain.  It 
is  certain,  however,  that  the  flesh  of  such  mollusks  is  palatable 
to  pea  crabs,  as  they  eat  it  greedily  in  the  aquarium. 

Extraordinary  Muscular  Strength  of 
the  Bat. 

When  bats  bring  forth  their  young  they  are  obliged  to  carry 
them  on  their  backs,  as  they  do  not  build  nests  like  the  birds, 
the  little  things  hanging  fast  to  their  fur  during  flight.  The 
extrordinary  strength  of  muscle  possessed  by  the  bat  is  shown 
in  the  fact  that  two  of  the  young,  which  are  often  born  at  a 
birth,  weigh  two-thirds  as  much  as  the  parent.  Thus,  flying 
at  nearly  double  its  ordinary  weight,  we  can  fancy  the  power 
of  this  animal,  surpassing  in  proportion  the  strength  of  the 
eagle  or  condor. 

Great  Digestive  Powers. 

In  certain  caterpillars  the  digestive  power  is  so  great  that 
they  swallow  every  day  three  or  four  times  their  own  weight 
in  food.  If  the  elephant  and  rhinoceros  were  to  feed  on  this 
scale,  and  were  as  numerous  as  the  caterpillars,  they  would 
require  but  a  short  time  to  devour  all  the  vegetation  on  the 
globe. 

The  Earwig. 

This  insect  is  supposed  to  have  a  "fondness"  forgetting 
into  the  human  ear,  the  effect  of  which,  it  has  been  believed, 
is  to  penetrate  the  brain  and  cause  madness.  The  earwig  is 
not  more  likely  than  any  other  insect  to  enter  the  ear.  The 
wings  of  the  earwig,  when  fully  expanded,  are  in  shape  pre- 
cisely like  the  human  ear,  from  which  fact  it  is  highly  probable 


390 

that  the  original  name  of  the  insect  was  ear-wing  and  not  ear- 
wig,  which  appears  to  be  entirely  without  meaning.  The 
name  is  also  traced  to  the  Saxon  ear-wigca,  from  its  destroying 
ears  of  grain  and  fruit. 

Eyes  of  the  Cuttle-Fish. 

The  eyes  of  the  cuttle-fish  are  so  solid  as  to  be  almost  cal- 
careous. They  are  exceedingly  beautiful,  and  reflect  light 
with  a  splendid  play  of  color,  like  an  opal.  They  are  used 
for  necklace  beads  in  Italy,  and  are  highly  valued  objects  for 
the  jeweler's  art. 

Innate  Appetite 

McKenzie  mentions  the  following  fact  as  having  been  wit- 
nessed by  Sir  James  Hall:  He  had  been  engaged  in  making 
experiments  in  hatching  eggs  by  artificial  heat,  and  on  one 
occasion  observed  in  one  of  his  boxes  a  chicken  in  the  act  of 
breaking  from  its  confinement.  It  happened  that  just  as  the 
creature  was  getting  out  of  the  shell  a  spider  ran  along  the 
box,  when  the  chicken  darted  forward,  seized  and  swallowed  it. 


Leaf -Butterfly  of  Java. 

This  butterfly,  as  a  defense  against  the  birds  of  the  tropics, 
almost  exactly  imitates,  in  its  color  and  appearance,  the  leaves 
of  the  trees  among  which  it  lives.  The  upper  surface  of  the 
wings,  when  outspread,  of  a  rich  orange  blue,  is  very  marked, 
but  the  lower  side  consists  of  some  shade  of  ash  or  brown  or 
ochre,  such  as  are  found  among  dead  and  decaying  leaves. 
When  the  insect  is  at  rest  on  a  tree,  it  resembles  so  closely  a 
leaf  that  the  most  acute  observation  fails  to  note  the  difference. 
It  sits  on  a  twig,  the  wings  closely  fitted  back  to  back,  con* 


291 

cealing  the  antennae  and  head,  which  are  drawn  up  beneath 
their  basis.  The  little  tails  of  the  hind  wing  touch  the  branch 
and  form  a  perfect  stalk  to  the  seeming  leaf.  The  irregular 
outline  of  the  wings  gives  exactly  the  perspective  effect  of  the 
outline  of  a  shriveled  leaf. 

The  Jump  of  a  Flea. 

M.  de  Fonvielle,  in  his  interesting  work  on  the  "Invisible 
World,"  maintains  that  a  flea  can  raise  itself  from  the  ground 
to  a  height  equal  to  two  hundred  times  its  stature.  At  this 
rate,  he  says,  a  man  would  only  make  a  joke  of  jumping  over 
the  towers  of  Notre-Dame  or  the  heights  of  Montmartre.  A 
prison  yard  would  be  useless  unless  the  walls  were  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  height. 

Book-  Worms. 

An  instance  is  recorded  of  twenty-seven  folio  volumes  being 
perforated,  in  a  straight  line,  by  the  same  worm,  in  such  a 
manner  that,  by  passing  a  cord  through  the  round  hole  made 
by  it,  the  twenty-seven  volumes  could  be  raised  at  once. 

Spider  Barometers. 

If  the  weather  is  likely  to  become  rainy,  windy  or  in  other 
respects  disagreeable,  spiders  fix  the  terminating  filaments,  on 
which  the  whole  web  is  sustained,  unusually  short.  If  the 
terminating  filaments  are  made  uncommonly  long,  the  weather 
will  be  serene,  and  continue  so,  at  least  for  ten  or  twelve  days. 
If  spiders  be  totally  indolent,  rain  generally  succeeds ;  their 
activity  during  rain  is  certain  proof  that  it  will  be  of  short 
duration,  and  followed  by  fair  and  constant  weather.  Spiders 


usually  make  some  alteration  in  their  webs  every  twenty-four 
hours;  if  these  changes  take  place  between  the  hours  of  six 
and  seven  in  the  evening,  they  indicate  a  clear  a;  d  pleasant 

night. 

"The  clouds  grow  heavier  over  head—- 
The spider  strengthened  his  web." 

Muscles  of  the  Caterpillar. 

Our  varied  movements  are  executed  by  the  aid  of  fleshy 
muscles  attached  to  the  skeleton.  In  these,  insects  possess  a 
numerical  and  dynamical  superiority  over  the  human  race. 
Anatomists  calculate  that  there  are  only  370  of  these  muscles 
in  a  man,  whilst  the  patient  Lyonet  discovered  more  than 
4000  in  a  single  caterpillar. 

A  Persistent  Fly. 

Linnaeus  saw  one  of  the  flies  which  attack  cattle  follow  a 
reindeer  an  entire  day,  though  dragging  its  sled  at  a  gallop 
over  the  snow.  The  fly  flew  almost  continuously  by  its  side, 
watching  for  the  moment  when  it  might  introduce  one  of  its 
eggs  beneath  the  skin. 

Phosphorescent  Insects. 

In  tropical  America  there  are  phosphorescent  insects  of 
remarkable  splendor.  In  Cuba  the  women  often  inclose  sev- 
eral of  the  luminous  beetles  in  little  cages  of  glass,  which 
they  hang  up  in  their  rooms,  and  this  living  lustre  throws  out 
sufficient  light  for  them  to  work  by.  Travelers,  in  a  difficult 
road,  light  their  path  in  the  middle  of  the  night  by  attaching 
one  of  these  beetles  to  each  of  their  feet.  The  Creoles  some* 
times  set  them  in  the  curls  of  their  hair,  where,  like  resplend- 


293 

ent  jewels,  they  give  a  fairy-like  aspect  to  their  heads.  The 
negresses,  at  their  nocturnal  dances,  scatter  these  brilliant  in- 
sects over  their  robes  of  lace  which  nature  provides  for  them, 
all  woven  from  the  bark  of  the  Lagetto. 

Eating  Clouds. 

Dr.  Livingstone,  relating  his  adventures  on  Lake  Nyassa, 
says:  "During  a  portion  of  the  year  the  northern  dwellers 
on  the  lake  have  a  harvest  which  furnishes  a  singular  kind  of 
food.  As  we  approached  our  limit  in  that  direction,  clouds 
as  of  smoke  arising  from  miles  of  burning  grass  were  observed 
tending  in  a  southeasterly  direction,  and  we  thought  that  the 
unseen  land  on  the  opposite  side  was  closing  in,  and  that  we 
were  near  the  end  of  the  lake.  But  next  morning  we  sailed 
through  one  of  the  clouds  on  our  own  side,  and  discovered 
that  it  was  neither  smoke  nor  haze,  but  countless  millions  of 
midges,  called  "kungo,"  (a  cloud  or  fog.)  They  filled  the 
air  to  an  immense  height  and  swarmed  upon  the  water,  too 
light  to  sink  in  it.  Eyes  and  mouth  had  to  be  kept  closed 
while  passing  through  this  living  cloud — they  struck  upon  the 
face  like  fine  drifting  snow.  The  people  gathered  these  in- 
sects by  night,  and  boiled  them  into  thick  cakes  to  be  used 
as  a  relish — millions  of  midges  in  a  cake.  A  kungo  cake  an 
inch  thick,  and  as  large  as  the  blue  bonnet  of  a  Scotch  plow- 
man, was  offered  to  us.  It  was  very  dark  in  color,  and  tasted 
not  unlike  caviare  or  salted  locust." 


Jl  Hundred  Stomachs. 

Some  of  the  animalcules  have  in  the  interior  of  the  body 
large  cavities,  which  incessantly  empty  and  fill  themselves 
with  colored  fluid.  These  cavities  represent  the  heart  of  large 


294 

animals  and  their  fluid  the  blood;  and  this  circulating  system 
is  relatively  so  large  that  it  may  be  stated,  without  exaggeration, 
that  some  microscopic  beings  have  hearts  fully  fifty  times  as 
large  and  as  strong,  in  proportion,  as  that  of  the  horse  or  ox. 
A  man  has  only  one  stomach,  whilst  invisible  microzoa  have 
sometimes  a  hundred. 

Motherly  Sacrifice  by  the  Gall  Insect. 

Some  kinds  of  gall  insects  immolate  themselves  in  order  to 
protect  their  offspring.  As  the  enormously  distended  insect 
gradually  expels  its  eggs,  it  heaps  them  up  in  a  little  pile,  and 
when  its  body  is  quite  cleared  out,  and  only  resembles  a  hol- 
low bladder,  the  female  straightway  covers  its  progeny  with 
it,  attaches  the  edges  round  them,  and  dies  directly  after. 
It  thus  forms  for  them  a  convex,  solid  roof,  the  impermea- 
bility of  which  protects  its  eggs  against  the  injurious  agency 
of  the  air  and  storms.  The  mother  pays  for  her  childbirth 
with  her  life,  and  her  young  are  born  under  the  shelter  of  her 
mummified  corpse. 

Wonderful  Spider's  Web. 

Across  the  sunny  paths  of  Ceylon,  where  the  forest  meets 
the  open  country,  and  which  constitute  the  bridle-roads  of  the 
island,  an  enormous  spider  stretches  its  web  at  the  height  of 
from  four  to  eight  feet  from  the  ground.  The  cordage  of 
these  webs  is  fastened  on  either  side  to  projecting  shoots  of 
trees  or  shrubs,  and  is  so  strong  as  to  hurt  the  traveler's  face, 
and  even  lift  off  his  hat,  if  he  happened  not  to  see  the  line. 
The  nest  in  the  centre  is  sometimes  as  large  as  a  man's  head, 
and  is  continually  growing  larger,  as  it  is  formed  of  successive 
layers  of  the  old  webs  rolled  over  each  other,  sheet  after  sheet, 
into  a  ball.  These  successive  envelopes  contain  the  limbs 


295 

and  wings  of  insects  of  all  descriptions,  which  have  been  the 
prey  of  the  spider  and  his  family,  who  occupy  the  den  formed 
in  the  midst.  There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  the  spider 
casts  the  web  loose  and  rolls  it  around  the  nucleus  in  the 
centre  when  it  becomes  overcharged  with  carcasses,  and  then 
proceeds  to  construct  a  fresh  one,  which  in  its  turn  is  des- 
tined to  be  folded  up  with  the  rest. 

Horrible  Mode  of  Assassination. 

i 

Before  English  law  and  custom  had  subdued  the  barbarism 
of  Hindostan,  the  following  mode  of  assassination  was  not 
uncommon :  The  murderer  would  kill  one  of  a  pair  of 
cobras,  and  drag  the  body  of  the  snake  along  the  ground  into 
the  bungalow,  over  the  floor,  and  into  the  very  bed  of  the 
victim.  After  a  few  moments,  the  dead  snake,  having  accom- 
plished the  purpose  of  leaving  an  odorous  trail  to  the  sleeping 
couch  of  the  victim,  would  be  thrown  away.  The  dead 
cobra's  living  mate  would  infallibly  follow  the  trail  to  the  bed, 
where  it  would  coil  itself  at  rest,  waiting  to  strike  the  sleeper. 

Fighting  Fish. 

It  is  a  favorite  amusement  among  the  natives  of  the  East 
Indian  islands  to  secure  a  number  of  these  fish,  and  pit  them 
one  against  the  other,  jiist  as  English  ''gentlemen"  of  days 
gone  by  used  to  match  game-cocks  to  fight  each  other.  Mons. 
Carbonnier  has  never  placed  two  together  in  the  same  vessel, 
but  if  two  are  put  into  separate  glasses  and  placed  near  to  each 
other,  it  is  very  amusing  to  watch  their  attempts  at  combat. 
At  first  they  will  closely  scan  each  other  from  a  distance; 
then,  changing  color  and  becoming  almost  black,  the  gill- 
covers  are  opened  out  and  form  a  sort  of  collarette  round  the 


296 

head,  giving  the  fish  a  most  curious  appearance.  The  tail  and 
fins  become  phosphorescent  in  color,  as  well  as  the  eyes,  and 
are  tinted  with  the  most  beautiful  hues.  Then  they  attempt 
to  get  at  each  other,  but  are  prevented  by  the  intervening 
glass.  When  their  anger  is  sufficiently  aroused,  they  are 
turned  into  the  same  vessel,  when  they  fight  vigorously  with 
rapid  strokes  of  the  tails  and  fins,  till  one  of  them  seeks 
safety  in  flight,  and  turns  a  sort  of  grayish-white  color,  often 
jumping  out  of  the  water  to  escape  his  conqueror. 

A  Snake's  Attachment  for  Home. 

Lord  Monboddo  relates  the  following  anecdote  of  a  ser- 
pent:  "I  am  well  informed  of  a  tame  serpent  in  the  East 
Indies,  which  belonged  to  the  late  Dr.  Vigot,  once  kept  by 
him  in  the  suburbs  of  Madras.  This  serpent  was  taken  by  the 
French  when  they  invested  Madras,  and  was  carried  to  Pon- 
dicherry  in  a  close  carriage.  But  from  thence  he  found  his 
way  back  to  his  old  quarters,  though  Madras  was  above  one 
hundred  miles  distant  from  Pondicherry." 

Queer  Legend  about  Fish. 

Most  of  the  flat-fish,  such  as  the  flounder,  plaice,  sole,  &c., 
are  white  or  colorless  on  one  side  and  dark  colored  on  the 
other.  Naturalists  account  for  this  by  saying  that  these  fish 
live  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea,  dark  side  uppermost,  to  prevent 
their  being  easily  seen  by  the  ocean  monsters  that  devour 
them.  The  Egyptians  give  another  explanation.  They  tell 
that  Moses  was  once  cooking  a  flat-fish,  and  when  it  had  been 
broiled  on  one  side,  the  fire  or  the  oil  gave  out,  and  Moses 
angrily  threw  the  fish  into  the  sea,  where,  though  half  broiled, 
it  became  as  lively  as  ever,  and  its  descendants  have  retained  its 


297 

parti-colored  appearance  to  the  present  day,  being  white  on 
one  side  and  brown  or  black  on  the  other. 


An  Old  Pike. 

In  the  year  1497  a  pike  was  captured  in  the  vicinity  of 
Manheim,  Germany,  with  the  following  announcement,  in 
Greek,  appended  to  his  muzzle : — 

"I  am  the  first  fish  that  was  put  into  this  pond  by  the  hands 
of  the  Emperor  Frederic  the  Second,  on  this  third  day  of 
October,  1262." 

The  age  of  the  pike,  therefore,  if  the  notice  spoke  the 
truth  (and  the  enormous  dimensions  of  his  body  left  little 
doubt  on  that  point),  was  more  than  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
five  years.  Already  he  had  been  the  survivor  of  many  im- 
portant changes  in  the  political  and  social  world  around  him, 
and  would  have  survived  perhaps  as  many  more,  had  it  not 
been  for  his  capture.  His  carcass,  which  weighed  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  pounds,  and  measured  nineteen  feet,  was  sent 
to  the  museum  at  Manheim,  where  it  now  hangs,  a  light,  desi- 
cated  skeleton,  which  a  child  might  move. 


Colossal  Shells. 

One  of  these  in  particular  has  acquired  a  certain  celebrity 
on  account  of  its  size  and  the  peculiar  use  to  which  it  has  been 
put.  It  is  the  gigantic  Tridacna,  commonly  known  as  the 
"  font,"  because  it  is  sometimes  employed  in  churches  to  con- 
tain the  sacred  water.  The  great  Tridacnse,  which  are  only 
detached  from  the  rocks  by  cutting  their  cable  with  an  axe, 
sometimes  weigh  more  than  five  hundred  pounds.  The 
natives  of  the  Molucca  Islands  eat  them  like  we  do  oysters,  to 
which  they  are  analogous,  and  the  flesh  of  one  is  a  sufficient 


298 

meal  for  twenty  people.  Their  thick  valves,  which  are  some- 
times five  feet  long,  serve  as  troughs  for  the  inhabitants,  which 
nature  offers  ready  cut  and  polished,  and  which  they  often  use 
for  feeding  pigs,  or  convert  into  bath-tubs  for  their  children. 
Buffon  speaks  of  a  shell,  the  diameter  of  which  was  equal  to 
that  of  a  carriage-wheel,  and  which  was  used  for  a  mill-stone. 

Changing  Colors  in  a  Dying  Mullet. 

The  mullet  is  a  fish  that  was  much  esteemed  by  the  ancients. 
The  Italians  have  a  proverb  which  says :  "He  who  catches  a 
mullet  is  a  fool  if  he  eats  it  and  does  not  sell  it" — owing  to 
the  high  price  which  the  fish  commanded.  When  it  is  dying, 
it  changes  its  colors  in  a  very  singular  manner  until  it  is  life, 
less.  This  spectacle  was  so  gratifying  to  the  Romans  that 
they  used  to  show  the  fish  dying  in  a  glass  vessel  to  their 
guests  before  dinner. 

An  Immense  Zoological  Cabinet. 

Schleiden  maintains  that  a  single  visiting  card,  when  it  is 
covered  with  a  white  layer  of  chalk,  represents  a  zoological 
cabinet  containing  nearly  100,000  shells  of  animals.  These 
shells  are  formed  of  carbonate  of  lime,  and  are  so  extremely 
small  that  it  has  been  calculated  that  it  would  require  10,000,- 
ooo  of  them  to  make  a  pound  of  chalk. 

Chank- Shell. 

This  name  is  given  to  a  shell  of  several  species  of  Turbinclla, 
a  genus  of  mollusks  found  in  the  East  Indian  seas.  They  are 
much  used  as  ornaments  by  Hindoo  women,  the  arms  and  legs 
being  encircled  with  them.  Many  of  them  are  buried  with 


opulent  persons.  A  chank-shell  opening  to  the  right  is  rare, 
and  highly  prized  in  Calcutta,  one  hundred  pounds  being 
sometimes  paid  for  one. 


Edifices  of  the  Polypi. 

The  prodigious  surface  over  which  the  combined  and  cease- 
less toil  of  these  little  architects  extends,  must  be  taken  into 
consideration  in  order  to  understand  the  important  part  they 
play  in  nature.  They  have  built  a  barrier  of  reefs  400  miles 
long  round  New  Caledonia,  and  another  which  extends  along 
the  northeast  coast  of  Australia  1000  miles  in  length.  This 
represents  a  mass  in  comparison  with  which  the  walls  of  Baby- 
lon and  the  Pyramids  of  Egypt  are  as  children's  toys.  And 
these  edifices  of  the  Polypi  have  been  reared  in  the  midst  of 
the  ocean  waves,  and  in  defiance  of  tempests  which  so  rapidly 
annihilate  the  strongest  works  constructed  by  man.  They 
build  their  reefs  and  islands  with  remarkable  rapidity.  One 
of  the  straits  in  the  approaches  to  Australia,  which  a  few  years 
ago  only  possessed  twenty-six  madrepore  islands,  at  present 
displays  one  hundred  and  fifty. 

Showers  of  Blood. 

In  the  old  chronicles  we  often  read  of  drops  of  blood  scat- 
tered here  and  there  being  regarded  as  a  sinister  omen,  or 
even  of  regular  showers  of  blood  which  carried  terror  into  the 
minds  of  our  superstitious  ancestors.  Now-a-days  we  know 
that  the  phenomenon  is  connected  with  the  metamorphosis  of 
insects.  Gregory  of  Tours  speaks  of  a  shower  of  blood  which 
fell  in  the  reign  of  Childebert  and  spread  alarm  among  the 
Franks.  But  the  most  celebrated  is  that  which  took  place  at 
Aix  during  the  summer  of  1608.  It  struck  the  inhabitants  of 


300 

the  country  with  terror.  The  walls  of  the  church-yard  and 
those  of  the  houses  for  half  a  league  round  were  spotted  with 
great  drops  of  blood.  A  careful  examination  of  them  con- 
vinced a  savant  of  that  day,  M.  de  Peirese,  that  all  that  was 
told  about  the  subject  was  only  a  fable.  He  could  not  at  first 
explain  the  extraordinary  phenomenon,  but  chance  revealed 
the  cause.  Having  inclosed  in  a  box  the  chrysalis  of  one  of 
the  butterflies  which  were  then  showing  themselves  in  great 
numbers,  he  was  astonished  to  see  a  stain  of  scarlet  red  at  the 
spot  where  the  metamorphosis  had  taken  place.  He  had  dis- 
covered the  cause  of  the  wondrous  rain  which  had  alarmed  the 
people.  A  prodigious  swarm  of  butterflies  had  appeared  at 
the  time,  and  his  conjectures  were  confirmed  by  the  fact  that 
no  drops  of  blood  had  been  found  on  the  roofs  of  the  houses, 
but  only  on  the  lower  stories,  the  places  which  the  butterflies 
had  chosen  for  their  metamorphoses. 

Shirts  Growing  on  Trees. 

"  We  saw  on  the  slope  of  the  Cerra  Dnida,"  says  Humboldt, 
"shirt  trees  fifty  feet  high.  The  Indians  cut  off  cylindrical 
pieces  two  feet  in  diameter,  from  which  they  peel  the  red  and 
fibrous  bark  without  making  any  longitudinal  incision.  This 
bark  affords  them  a  sort  of  garment  which  resembles  a  sack  of 
very  coarse  texture,  and  without  a  seam.  The  upper  opening 
serves  for  the  head,  and  two  lateral  holes  are  cut  to  admit  the 
arms.  The  natives  wear  these  shirts  of  Marina  in  the  rainy 
season ;  they  have  the  form  of  the  ponchos  and  manos  of  cot- 
ton which  are  so  common  in  New  Grenada,  at  Quito  and  in 
Peru,  As  in  this  climate  the  riches  and  beneficence  of  nature 
are  regarded  as  the  primary  cause  of  the  indolence  of  the 
inhabitants,  the  missionaries  do  not  fail  to  say,  in  showing  the 
shirts  of  Marina,  in  the  forests  of  Oroonoka  garments  are 
found  ready  made  upon  the  trees."  ' 


SOI 

Whistling  Trees. 

Schweinfurth,  in  his  "Heart  of  Africa,"  describes  what 
may  be  termed  an  insect  organ-builder.  In  the  country  of  the 
Shi  Hooks,  he  says,  the  acacia  groves  extend  over  an  area  of  a 
hundred  miles  square  and  stretch  along  the  right  bank  of  the 
stream.  From  the  attacks  of  larvae  of  insects,  which  have 
worked  to  the  inside,  their  ivory  white  shoots  are  often  dis- 
torted in  form  and  swollen  out  at  their  base  with  globular 
bladders  measuring  about  an  inch  in  diameter.  After  the 
mysterious  insect  has  unaccountably  managed  to  glide  out  of 
its  circular  hole,  this  thorn-like  shoot  becomes  a  sort  of  musi- 
cal instrument,  upon  which  the  wind,  as  it  plays,  produces 
the  regular  sound  of  a  flute.  On  this  account  the  natives  of 
the  Soudan  have  named  it  the  whistling  tree. 

Aconite. 

This  plant  was  regarded  by  the  ancients  as  the  most  violent 
of  poisons.  They  said  that  it  was  the  invention  of  Hecate, 
and  that  it  sprung  from  the  foam  of  Cerberus. 

Oysters  Growing  on  Trees. 

Mr.  C.  H.  Williams,  of  the  Geographical  Society  of  Eng- 
land, tells  us  how  oysters  inhabit  the  Mangrove  woods  in 
Cuba:  "For  several  years  I  resided  in  that  island,  and  have 
several  times  come  across  scenes  and  objects  which  many 
people  would  consider  great  curiosities — one  in  particular. 
Oysters  grow  on  trees,  in  immense  quantities,  especially  in 
the  southern  part  of  the  island.  I  have  seen  miles  of  trees, 
the  lower  stems  and  branches  of  which  were  literally  covered 
with  them,  and  many  a  good  meal  have  I  enjoyed  with  very 
little  trouble  in  procuring  it.  I  simply  placed  the  branches 


302 

over  the  fire,  and,  when  opened,  I  picked  out  the  oysters  with 
a  fork  or  a  pointed  stick.  These  peculiar  shell-fish  are  indi- 
genous in  lagoons  and  swamps  on  the  coast,  and  as  far  as  the 
tide  will  rise  and  the  spray  fly  so  will  they  cling  to  the  lower 
parts  of  the  Mangrove  trees,  sometimes  four  or  five  deep,  the 
Mangrove  being  one  of  the  very  few  trees  that  flourish  in  salt 
water." 

The  Shaking  Aspen. 

The  aspen  is  popularly  said  to  have  been  the  tree  which 
formed  the  cross  upon  which  the  Saviour  was  crucified,  and 
since  then  its  boughs  have  been  filled  with  horror  and  tremble 
ceaselessly.  Unfortunately  for  the  probability  of  this  story, 
the  shivering  of  the  aspen  in  the  breeze  may  be  traced  to  other 
than  a  supernatural  cause.  The  construction  of  its  foliage  is 
particularly  adapted  for  motion;  a  broad  leaf  is  placed  upon 
a  long  footstalk  so  flexible  as  scarcely  to  be  able  to  support 
the  leaf  in  an  upright  posture.  The  upper  part  of  this  stalk, 
on  which  the  play  or  action  seems  mainly  to  depend,  is  con- 
trary to  the  nature  of  footstalks  in  general,  being  perfectly 
flattened,  and,  as  an  eminent  botanist  has  acutely  observed,  is 
placed  at  a  right-angle  with  the  leaf,  being  thus  particularly 
fitted  to  receive  the  impulse  of  every  wind  that  blows. 

Tree  Planting  in  Java. 

In  Java  a  fruit  tree  is  planted  on  the  birth  of  each  child, 
and  is  carefully  tended  as  the  record  of  his  or  her  age. 

Turkish  Superstition  about  the  Geranium. 

The  Turks  believe  that  the  geranium  was  originally  a  swal- 
low, and  that  its  existence  was  changed  by  a  touch  from  the 
robe  of  Mahomet. 


SOS 

Four-leaved  Clover. 

For  centuries  it  has  been  considered  lucky  to  find  a  four- 
leaved  clover.  Melton,  in  his  "Astrologaster,"  says:  "That 
if  a  man,  walking  in  the  fields,  find  any  foure-leaved  grasse,  he 
shall  in  a  small  while  after  find  some  good  thing. ' ' 

Bitterness  of  Strychnia. 

Strychnia,  the  active  principle  of  the  nux  vomica  bean, 
which  has  become  so  famous  in  the  annals  of  criminal  poison- 
ing, is  so  intensely  bitter  that  it  will  impart  a  sensibly  bitter 
taste  to  six  hundred  thousand  times  its  weight  of  water. 


Copied  from  Nature. 

The  remarkably  pleasing  patterns  which  adorn  the  Cash- 
mere shawls  from  the  foot  of  the  Himalaya  mountains  are 
copied  from  the  leaves  of  the  begonia. 


Rose  of  Jericho. 

Under  this  trivial  name  is  known  one  of  the  most  singular 
forms  of  plant-life.  It  is  an  annual,  and  is  found  in  northern 
Africa,  Syria  and  Arabia.  It  presents  nothing  strange  during 
the  growing  season,  but,  as  the  pods  begin  to  ripen  on 
the  approach  of  dry  weather,  the  branches  drop  their  leaves 
and  curl  inward,  appearing  like  dead  twigs.  When  com- 
pletely ripe  the  whole  plant  presents  the  aspect  of  a  ball  of 
curious  wicker-work  at  the  top  of  a  short  stem.  The  roots 
die  away,  and  the  wind  carries  the  plant  to  great  distances. 
When  the  apparently  dead,  worthless  ball  reaches  the  sea  or 
Other  water,  or  becomes  wedged  somewhere  till  a  rain  comes, 


304 

then  the  curled  and  dried  ball,  under  the  influence  of  water, 
unbends,  and  the  branches  resume  their  proper  places.  The 
pods  open  and  discharge  their  seeds  perhaps  hundreds  of 
miles  from  the  place  of  original  growth. 

The  monks  of  Palestine  call  it  "Mary's  Flower,"  from  the 
belief  that  it  expands  each  year  on  the  day  and  hour  of  the 
birth  of  the  Saviour.  It  is  also  known  as  the  resurrection 
plant,  and  women  in  Palestine,  about  to  undergo  the  pangs 
of  childbirth,  place  it  in  water  at  the  beginning  of  their  pains 
in  the  hope  that  the  blooming  may  be  the  signal  of  their 
deliverance. 

Curious  Oranges. 

There  are  many  oranges,  of  curious  shape  and  flavor,  which 
we  seldom  or  never  see  in  this  country.  Such  are  the  pear- 
shaped  kind  grown  in  the  far  East ;  the  orange  of  the  Philip- 
pines, which  is  no  larger  than  a  good-sized  cherry;  the  double 
orange,  in  which  two  perfect  oranges  appear,  one  within  the 
other;  and  the  "fingered  citron"  of  China,  which  is  very 
large,  and  is  placed  on  the  table  by  the  Celestials  rather  for 
its  exquisite  fragrance  than  for  its  flavor. 


Trifoliated  Plants  considered  Sacred. 

Many  trifoliated  plants  have  been  held  sacred  from  a 
remote  antiquity.  The  trefoil  was  eaten  by  the  horses  of- 
Jupiter,  and  a  golden,  three-leaved,  immortal  plant,  affording 
riches  and  protection,  is  noticed  in  Homer's  Hymn  in  Mer- 
curium.  In  the  palaces  of  Nineveh,  and  on  the  medals  of 
Rome,  representations  of  triple  branches,  triple  leaves  and 
triple  fruit  are  to  be  found.  On  the  temples  and  pyramids  of 
Gibel-el-Birkel,  considered  to  be  much  older  than  those  of 
Egypt,  there  are  representations  of  a  tri-leaved  plant,  which, 


30ft 

in  the  illustrations  of  Hoskin's  "  Travels  in  Ethiopia,"  seem 
to  be  nothing  else  than  the  shamrock.  The  triad  is  still  a 
favorite  figure  in  national  and  heraldic  emblems. 

The  Belladonna  Lily. 

This  flower  (the  Amaryllis  formosissima),  in  a  strong  light, 
has  a  yellow  lustre  like  gold.  It  was  originally  named  flos 
Jacobcebus,  because  some  imagined  that  they  discovered  in  it 
a  likeness  to  the  badge  of  the  knights  of  the  order  of  St. 
James,  founded  in  Spain  in  the  fourteenth  century. 

Thirty  Years  in  Blossoming. 

The  bamboo  tree  does  not  blossom  until  it  attains  its  thir- 
tieth year,  when  it  produces  seed  profusely  and  then  dies.  It 
is  said  that  a  famine  was  prevented  in  India,  in  1812,  by  the 
sudden  flowering  of  the  bamboo  trees,  where  fifty  thousand 
people  resorted  to  the  jungles  to  gather  the  seed  for  food. 

Mouse-Ear. 

Lupton,  in  his  third  "Book  of  Notable  Things,"  1660, 
says:  "Mousear,  any  manner  of  way  administered  to  horses, 
brings  this  help  unto  them,  that  they  cannot  be  hurt  while 
the  smith  is  shoeing  of  them;  therefore  it  is  called  of  many, 
herba  clavorum,  the  herb  of  nails." 

Mugwort. 

Coles,  in  his  "Art  of  Simpling,"  says  :  "If  a  footman  take 
mugwort  and  put  into  his  shoes  in  the  morning,  he  may  goe 
forty  miles  before  noon,  and  not  be  weary." 


906 

The  Shoe-black  Plant. 

There  is  a  species  of  hibiscus  growing  in  New  South  Wales, 
the  showy  flowers  of  which  contain  a  large  proportion  of 
mucilaginous  juice  of  a  glossy,  varnish-like  appearance. 
Chinese  ladies  use  the  juice  for  dyeing  their  hair  and  eye- 
brows. In  Java  the  flowers  are  used  for  blacking  shoes. 

St.  John's  Wort. 

The  common  people  in  France  and  Germany  gather  this 
plant  with  great  ceremony  on  St.  John's  day,  and  hang  it  in 
their  windows  as  a  charm  against  thunder  and  evil  spirits.  In 
Scotland  it  is  carried  about  as  a  charm  against  witchcraft  and 
enchantment,  and  the  people  fancy  it  cures  ropy  milk,  which 
they  suppose  to  be  under  some  malignant  influence.  As  the 
flowers,  when  rubbed  between  the  fingers,  yield  a  red  juice, 
it  has  obtained  the  name  of  Sanguis  hominis  (human  blood) 
among  some  fanciful  medical  writers. 

The  young  maid  stole  through  the  cottage  door, 
And  blushed  as  she  sought  the  plant  of  pow'r — 
"  Thou  silver  glow-worm,  O  lend  me  thy  light, 
I  must  gather  the  mystic  St.  John's  wort  to-night" 

Vegetable  Fungus. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  Sir  Joseph  Banks, 
of  London,  had  a  cask  of  wine  which  was  too  sweet  for  imme- 
diate use,  and  it  was  placed  in  the  cellar  to  become  mellowed 
by  age.  At  the  end  of  three  years  he  directed  his  butler  to 
ascertain  the  condition  of  the  wine,  when,  on  attempting  to 
open  the  cellar  door,  he  could  not  effect  it  in  consequence  of 
some  powerful  resistance.  The  door  was  cut  down,  and  the 
cellar  was  found  completely  filled  with  a  firm  fungus  vegeta- 


307 

ble  production — so  firm  that  it  was  necessary  to  use  an  ax  foi 
its  removal.  This  had  grown  from  and  had  been  nourished 
by  the  decomposed  particles  of  the  wine.  The  cask  was 
empty  and  touched  the  ceiling,  where  it  was  supported  by  the. 
surface  of  the  fungus. — Hone. 

The  Rose  cub  Midsummer. 

The  gathering  of  a  rose  on  midsummer  eve  was  once  super- 
stitiously  associated  with  the  choice  of  a  husband.  The  cus- 
tom is  stated  to  be  a  relic  of  Druidical  times,  and  is  thus  men- 
tioned in  the  Connoisseur,  No.  50 : — 

"Our  maid  Betty  tells  me,  that  if  I  go  backward,  without 
speaking  a  word,  into  the  garden,  upon  midsummer  eve,  and 
gather  a  rose,  and  keep  it  in  a  clean  sheet  of  paper  without 
looking  at  it  until  Christmas  day,  it  will  be  as  fresh  as  in 
June;  and  if  I  then  stick  it  in  my  bosom,  he  that  is  to  be  my 
husband  will  come  and  take  it  out. ' ' 

Another  custom  was  to  gather  the  rose  and  seal  it  up  while 
the  clock  was  striking  twelve  at  mid-day. 

The  House  Leek, 

A.  superstition  used  to  exist  that  the  house  leek  preserved  a 
house  from  lightning.  It  is  still  common  in  many  parts  of 
England  to  plant  it  on  top  of  the  houses. 

Ordeal  of  the  Cross. 

When  a  person  accused  of  crime  had  declared  his  innocence 
upon  oath,  and  appealed  to  the  cross  for  its  judgment  in  his 
favor,  he  was  brought  into  church  before  the  altar.  The 
priest  previously  prepared  two  sticks  exactly  alike,  upon  one 


SOS 

of  which  was  carved  the  figure  of  a  cross.  They  were  both 
wrapped  up  with  great  care  and  much  ceremony  in  a  quantity 
of  wool,  and  laid  upon  the  altar,  or  upon  the  relics  of  the 
saints.  A  solemn  prayer  was  then  offered  up  to  God,  that  he 
would  be  pleased  to  discover,  by  the  judgment  of  his  holy 
cross,  whether  the  accused  person  was  innocent  or  guilty.  A 
priest  then  approached  the  altar  and  took  up  one  of  the 
sticks,  and  the  assistants  reverently  unswathed  it.  If  it  was 
marked  with  the  cross,  the  accused  person  was  innocent ;  if 
unmarked,  he  was  guilty.  It  would  be  unjust  to  assert  that 
the  judgments  delivered  were  in  all  cases  erroneous,  and  it 
would  be  absurd  to  believe  that  they  were  left  altogether  to 
chance. 

Ordeal  of  the  Eucharist. 

This  ordeal  was  in  use  among  the  clergy.  The  accused 
party  took  the  sacrament  in  attestation  of  innocence,  it  being 
believed  that,  if  guilty,  he  would  be  immediately  visited  with 
divine  punishment  for  the  sacrilege.  A  somewhat  similar 
ordeal  was  that  of  the  corsned,  or  consecrated  bread  and 
cheese.  If  the  accused  swallowed  it  freely,  he  was  pro- 
nounced innocent;  if  it  stuck  in  his  throat,  he  was  presumed 
to  be  guilty.  Godwin,  Earl  of  Kent,  in  the  reign  of  Edward 
the  Confessor,  when  accused  of  the  murder  of  the  king's 
brother,  is  said  to  have  appealed  to  the  ordeal  of  the  corsned, 
and  was  choked  by  it. 

Ordeals  in  Africa. 

Ordeals  seem  to  be  prevalent  in  Africa.  "When  a  man," 
says  Dr.  Livingstone,  "suspects  that  any  of  his  wives  have 
bewitched  him,  he  sends  for  the  witch-doctor,  and  all  the 
wives  go  forth  into  the  field,  and  remain  fasting  till  that  per- 


309 

son  has  made  an  infusion  of  a  plant  called  goho.  They  all 
drink  it,  each  one  holding  up  her  hand  to  heaven  in  attesta- 
tion of  her  innocence.  Those  who  vomit  it  are  considered 
innocent,  while  those  whom  it  purges  are  pronounced  guilty, 
and  put  to  death  by  burning.  The  innocent  return  to  their 
homes,  and  slaughter  a  cock  as  a  thank-offering  to  their 
guardian  spirits..  The  Barotse  pour  the  medicine  down  the 
throat  of  a  cock  or  dog,  and  judge  of  the  innocence  or  guilt 
of  the  person  accused  by  the  vomiting  or  purging  of  the 
animal." 

Ordeal  of  Cold  Water. 

The  suspected  person  was  flung  into  the  river.  If  he  floated, 
without  any  appearance  of  swimming,  he  was  judged  guilty; 
while  if  he  sank  he  was  acquitted. 

Ordeal  of  Chewing  Rice. 

It  is  a  common  practice,  in  many  parts  of  India,  to  oblige 
persons  suspected  of  crimes  to  chew  dry  rice  in  the  presence 
of  the  officers  of  the  law.  Curious  as  it  may  appear,  such  is 
the  intense  influence  of  fear  on  the  salivary  glands,  that,  if 
they  are  actually  guilty,  there  is  no  secretion  of  saliva  in  the 
mouth,  and  chewing  is  impossible.  Such  culprits  generally 
confess  without  any  further  efforts.  On  the  contrary,  a  con- 
sciousness of  innocence  allows  of  a  proper  flow  of  fluid  for 
softening  the  rice. 

Ordeal  by  Fire. 

This  ordeal  was  allowed  only  to  persons  of  high  rank.  The 
accused  had  to  carry  a  piece  of  red-hot  iron  for  some  distance 
in  his  hand,  or  to  walk  nine  feet,  blindfolded  and  barefooted, 
over  red-hot  ploughshares.  The  hand  or  foot  was  bound  up 


310 

and  inspected  three  days  afterwards;  if  the  accused  had 
escaped  unhurt,  he  was  pronounced  innocent;  if  otherwise, 
guihy. 

Ordeal  of  Touch. 

At  one  time  a  superstition  prevailed  that  if  a  murderer,  at 
the  inquest,  or  when  on  trial,  touched  the  dead  body  of  his 
victim,  it  would  commence  to  bleed.  On  the  trial,  in  Edin- 
burgh, of  Philip  Standsfield,  for  the  murder  of  his  father,  the 
following  deposition  was  made  by  Mr.  Humphrey  Spurway : — 

"When  the  chirurgeons  had  caused  the  body  of  Sir  James  to 
be,  by  their  servants,  sewen  up  again,  and  his  grave-clothes 
put  on,  a  speech  was  made  to  this  purpose :  *  It  is  requisite, 
now,  that  those  of  Sir  James  Standsfield 's  relations  and  nearest 
friends  should  take  him  off  from  the  place  where  he  now  lies, 
and  lift  him  into  his  coffin.'  So  I  saw  Mr.  James  Rowe  at 
the  left  side  of  Sir  James'  head  and  shoulder,  and  Mr.  Philip 
Standsfield  at  the  right  side  of  his  head  and  shoulder;  and, 
going  to  lift  off  the  body,  I  saw  Mr.  Philip  drop  the  head  of 
his  father  upon  the  form,  and  much  blood  in  hand,  and  himself 
flying  off  from  the  body,  crying,  'Lord,  have  mercy  upon  me,' 
or  'upon  us,'  wiping  off  the  blood  on  his  clothes,  and  so  laying 
himself  over  a  seat  in  the  church;  some,  supposing  that  he  would 
swaiff  or  swoon  away,  called  for  a  bottle  of  water  for  him." 

Sir  George  McKenzie  takes  this  notice  of  the  above  evi- 
dence, in  his  speech  to  the  inquest : — 

"But  they,  fully  persuaded  that  Sir  James  was  murdered  by 
his  own  son,  sent  out  some  chirurgeons  and  friends,  who,  having 
raised  the  body,  did  see  it  bleed  miraculously  upon  his  touch- 
ing it.  In  which  God  Almighty  himself  was  pleased  to  bear 
a  share  in  the  testimonies  which  we  produce:  that  Divine 
Power  which  makes  the  blood  circulate  during  life,  has  oft- 
times,  in  all  nations,  opened  a  passage  to  it  after  death  upon 
such  occasions,  but  most  in  this  case." 


Chinese  Veneration  for  the  Lily. 

Among  the  Chinese,  should  the  lily  blossom  on  New  Year's 
day,  it  is  regarded  as  a  most  happy  omen,  presaging  the  best 
of  luck  to  the  fortunate  owner  of  the  plant. 


The  Passion  Flower. 

This  genus  of  plants  received  its  name  from  some  fanciful 
persons  among  the  first  Spanish  settlers  in  America,  who 
imagined  that  they  saw  in  its  flowers  a  representation  of  our 
Lord's  Passion — the  filamentous  processes  being  taken  to  rep- 
resent the  crown  of  thorns,  the  nail-shaped  styles  the  nails  of 
the  cross,  and  the  five  anthers  the  marks  of  the  wounds. 


Burned  Wastes  Replenished. 

Mr.  Veitch,  the  well-known  author  on  "Coniferae,"  re- 
cently stated  that  the  cones  of  many  of  the  species  on  the 
Pacific  coast  never  open  and  permit  the  seed  to  escape  unless 
opened  by  a  forest  fire,  when  they  fall  out  and  replenish  the 
burned  waste.  They  hang  on  the  trees  for  many  generations 
—even  for  thirty  years. 


Unlucky  Stumbling* 

When  Mungo  Park  took  his  leave  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  prior 
to  his  second  and  fatal  expedition  to  Africa,  his  horse  stum- 
bled on  crossing  a  ditch  which  separated  the  moor  from  the 
road.  "I  am  afraid,"  said  Scott,  "this  is  a  bad  omen." 
Park  smilingly  answered:  "Omens  follow  them  who  look  to 
them, ' '  and,  striking  spur  into  his  horse,  he  galloped  off.  Scott 
never  saw  him  again. 


312 

Patagonian  Superstitions. 

To  the  Patagonians  the  cry  of  the  nightjar  on  the  Cordillera 
betokens  sickness,  a  certain  toad -like  lizzard  mysteriously  lames 
horses,  a  fabulous  two-headed  guanaco  is  a  sure  forerunner  ot 
epidemic  disease,  &c.  To  counteract  the  influence  of  these, 
charms  and  talismans  are  liberally  employed. 

Superstition  about  the  Caul. 

One  of  the  superstitions  that  still  clings  to  seafaring  life,  is 
the  confidence  in  the  virtues  of  a  child's  caul,  as  a  preservative 
against  drowning.  The  caul  is  a  thin  membrane  found 
encompassing  the  head  of  some  children  when  born;  it  was 
considered  a  good  omen  for  the  child  itself,  and  productive  of 
good  fortune  and  security  from  danger  to  the  purchaser. 
The  superstition  was  so  common  in  the  primitive  church  that 
St.  Crysostom  felt  it  his  duty  to  inveigh  against  it  in  many 
of  his  homilies.  In  later  times  midwives  sold  the  caul  at 
enormous  prices  to  advocates,  "as  an  especial  means  of  mak- 
ing them  eloquent,"  and  to  seamen  as  "an  infallible  preser- 
vative against  drowning."  In  Ben  Jonson's  "Alchemist" 
Face  says  to  Dapper — 

"Ye  were  born  with  a  caul  o'  your  head." 
In  Digby's  "Elvira"   (Act  V.),  Don  Sancho  says— 

"Were  we  not  born  with  cauls  upon  our  heads? 
Think'st  thou,  chicken,  to  come  off  twice  aroif 
Thus  rarely  from  such  dangerous  adventures?" 

The  caul  is  alluded  to  in  a  rondeau  by  Claude  de  Malleville, 
born  1597.  "//  cst  nt  coifft"  is  a  well-known  expression, 
describing  a  lucky  man,  and  indicating  that  he  was  born  with 
a  caul.  Weston,  in  his  "  Moral  Aphorisms  from  the  Arabic" 


313 

(i8oi),  says  that  the  superstition  came  from  the  East,  and 
that  there  are  several  Arabic  words  for  it. 


The  Will-with-a-Wisp. 

This  phenomenon,  known  also  as  "  Jack-with-a-Lantern  " 
and  "Ignis  fatuus,"  has  terrified  many  a  simple-minded 
rustic,  whereas  it  is  simply  the  phosphuretted  hydrogen  gas 
which  rises  from  stagnant  waters  and  marshy  grounds.  Its 
origin  is  believed  to  be  in  the  decomposition  of  animal  sub- 
stances. Collins  has  left  us  some  fine  lines  upon  this  phe- 
nomenon, beginning — 

"Ah,  homely  swains !  your  homeward  steps  ne'er  lose ; 

Let  not  dank  Will  mislead  you  to  the  heath; 
Dancing  in  murky  night  o  'er  fen  and  lake, 

He  glows  to  draw  you  downward  to  your  death, 
In  his  bewitch'd,  low,  marshy  willow  brake." 

At  Bologna,  in  1843,  the  painter  Onofrio  Zanotti  saw  this 
phenomenon  in  the  form  of  globes  of  fire,  issuing  from  between 
the  paving-stones  in  the  street,  and  even  about  his  feet.  They 
rose  into  the  air  and  disappeared;  he  even  felt  their  heat 
when  they  passed  near  him. 

Cramp  Rings. 

These  rings  were  supposed  to  cure  cramp  and  the  "falling 
sickness. ' '  They  are  said  to  have  originated  as  far  back  as 
the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  in  a  ring  presented  by  a 
pilgrim  to  Edward  the  Confessor,  which,  after  that  ruler's 
death,  was  preserved  as  a  relic  in  Westminster  Abbey,  and 
was  applied  for  the  cure  of  epilepsy  and  cramp.  Hence 
appears  to  have  arisen  the  belief  that  rings  blessed  by  English 
sovereigns  were  efficacious  in  such  cases,  and  the  custom  of 


314 

blessing  for  distribution  large  numbers  of  cramp  rings  on  Good 
Friday,  which  continued  in  existence  down  to  the  time  of 
Queen  Mary.  The  accomplished  Lord  Berners,  ambassador 
to  Spain  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.,  wrote  from  Saragossa  to 
Cardinal  Wolsey:  "If  your  grace  remember  me  with  some 
cramp  rings  ye  shall  doo  a  thing  muche  looked  for;  and  I 
trust  to  bestow  thaym  with  Goddes  grace." 

Horseshoes. 

An  ancient  superstition  existed  that  horseshoes  kept  witches 
out  of  the  house.  It  was  a  common  practice  to  nail  them  to 
the  threshold,  stipulated,  however,  that  the  shoe  was  to  be 
one  that  had  been  found.  In  Gay's  fable  of  "The  Old 
Woman  and  her  Cats,"  the  supposed  witch  makes  the  follow- 
ing complaint : — 

" — Crowds  of  boys 
Worry  me  with  eternal  noise; 
Straws  laid  across,  my  pace  retard ; 
The  horseshoe 's  nailed  (each  threshold's  guard); 
The  stunted  brooms  the  wenches  hide, 
For  fear  that  I  should  up  and  ride." 

Breaking  a  Piece  of  Money. 

It  was  an  ancient  custom  to  break  a  piece  of  gold  or  silver 
in  token  of  a  verbal  contract  of  marriage  and  promises  of  love; 
one  half  of  the  coin  was  kept  by  the  woman,  the  other  half 
was  retained  by  the  man. 

Love  Charms. 

Theocritus  and  Virgil  both  introduce  women  into  their 
pastorals,  using  charms  and  incantations  to  recover  the  affec- 


315 

tions  of  their  sweethearts.  Shakespeare  represents  Othello  as 
accused  of  winning  Desdemona  "by  conjuration  and  mighty 
magic."  In  Gay's  "Shepherd's  Week,"  these  are  repre- 
sented as  country  practices — 

"Strait  to  the  'pothecary's  shop  I  went, 
And  in  love-powder  all  my  money  spent, 
Behap  what  will,  next  Sunday,  after  prayers,  \ 

When  to  the  ale-house  Lubberkin  repairs, 
These  golden  flies  into  his  mug  I  '11  throw, 
And  soon  the  swain  with  fervent  love  shall  glow." 

Throwing  bay  leaves  into  the  fire,  or  bruising  poppy  flowers 
in  the  hands,  was  believed  to  influence  the  love  of  others.  In 
Herrick's  "Hesperides"  is  given  "a  charm  or  an  allay  for 

love"— 

"  If  so  a  toad  be  laid 
In  a  sheep-skin  newly  flay'd, 
And  that  ty'd  to  a  man,  'twill  sever 
Him  and  his  affections  ever." 


Spellbound. 

It  was  a  popular  belief  in  Scotland  that  the  Duke  of  Mon- 
mouth  was  spellbound  to  Lady  Henrietta  Wentworth,  the 
charm  being  lodged  in  the  gold  toothpick  case  which  he  sent 
to  her  from  the  scaffold. —  William  Jones,  F.S.A. 


Amulets  Inserted  under  the  Skin. 

Devices  to  procure  invulnerability  are  common  in  the  Indo- 
Chinese  countries.  The  Burmese  sometimes  insert  pellets  of 
gold  under  the  skin  with  this  view.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
Asiatic  Society  of  Bengal,  in  1868,  gold  and  silver  coins  were 
shown  which  had  been  extracted  from  under  the  skin  of  a 
Burmese  convict,  at  the  Andaman  Islands.  Friar  Odoric 


316 

speaks  of  the  practice  in  one  of  the  Indian  Islands  (apparently 
Borneo),  and  the  stones  possessing  such  virtue  were,  accord- 
ing to  him,  found  in  the  bamboo,  presumably  the  silicious 
concretions  called  Tabashir.  Conti  also  describes  the  practice 
in  Java  of  inserting  amulets  under  the  skin. 


Divining  Rods. 

Divination  by  the  rod  or  wand  is  an  imposition  of  the 
highest  antiquity.  Hosea  reproaches  the  Jews  for  believing 
in  it :  "My  people  ask  counsel  at  their  stocks,  and  their  staff 
declareth  it  unto  them."  (IV.  12.)  It  was  a  custom  in  vogue 
among  the  Chaldeans,  among  almost  every  nation  with  any 
pretence  to  scientific  knowledge,  and  also  among  the  wilder 
or  ruder  races,  as  the  Alani  and  the  ancient  Germans.  Dr. 
Henry  states  that  after  the  Saxons  and  Danes  had  embraced 
Christianity,  the  priests  were  commanded  by  their  ecclesiasti- 
cal superiors  to  preach  very  frequently  against  diviners, 
sorcerers,  augurers,  and  "all  the  filth  of  the  wicked  and  the 
dotages  of  the  Gentiles."  The  divining  rod,  virgula  divina, 
or  baculus  divinatorius,  was  a  forked  branch  of  hazel,  cut  in 
the  form  of  a  Y,  and  was  supposed  to  reveal  not  only  the 
hidden  spring,  but  mines  of  gold  and  silver,  and  any  other 
concealed  treasure. 

The  "Quarterly  Review,"  in  an  early  number,  relates  that  a 
certain  Lady  Noel  possessed  the  divining  faculty :  "  She  took  a 
thin  forked  hazel  twig,  about  sixteen  inches  long,  and  held  it 
by  the  ends,  the  joint  pointing  downwards.  When  she  came 
to  the  place  where  water  was  under  the  ground,  the  twig 
immediately  bent,  and  the  motion  was  more  or  less  rapid  as 
she  approached  or  withdrew  from  the  spring.  When  just  over 
it,  the  twig  turned  so  quick  as  to  snap,  breaking  near  the  fingers, 
which,  by  pressing  it,  were  indented  and  heated  and  almost 


317 

blistered;  a  degree  of  agitation  was  also  visible  in  her  face. 
The  exercise  of  the  faculty  is  independent  of  any  volition." 


Washing  but  Once  in  a  Lifetime. 

No  devout  Spanish  woman  dares  to  bathe  without  the  per- 
mission of  her  confessor.  A  female  Bulgarian  is  permitted  to 
wash  only  once  in  her  life — on  the  day  before  her  wedding; 
and  in  most  South  Sclavonian  families  the  girls  are  rarely 
allowed  to  bathe — the  women  never. 


Looking  Back. 

The  superstition  of  the  ill-luck  of  looking  back,  or  return- 
ing, is  nearly  as  old  as  the  world  itself,  having  no  doubt  origi- 
nated in  Lot's  wife  "having  looked  back  from  behind  him," 
when  he  was  leaving  the  doomed  city  of  the  Plain.  Whether 
walking  or  riding,  the  wife  was  behind  the  husband,  accord- 
ing to  a  usage  still  prevalent  in  the  East.  In  Robert's 
"Oriental  Illustrations"  it  is  stated  to  be  "considered  exceed- 
ingly unfortunate  in  Hindostan  for  men  or  women  to  look 
back  when  they  leave  their  house.  Accordingly,  if  a  man. 
goes  out  and  leaves  something  behind  him  which  his  wife 
knows  he  will  want,  she  does  not  call  him  to  turn  or  look 
back,  but  takes  or  sends  it  after  him;  and  if  some  emergency 
obliges  him  to  look  back,  he  will  not  then  proceed  on  the 
business  he  was  about  to  transact." 


Toad-Stone  Rings. 

During  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries  a  curious  super- 
stition was  prevalent  in  England  in  connection  with  what  was 
known  as  the  toad-stone  ring.  The  setting  was  of  silver,  and 


318 

the  stone  was  popularly  believed  to  have  been  formed  in  the 
heads  of  very  old  toads.  It  was  eagerly  coveted  by  sovereigns, 
and  by  all  persons  in  office,  because  it  was  supposed  to  have 
the  power  of  indicating  to  the  person  who  wore  it  the  prox- 
imity of  poison,  by  perspiring  and  changing  color.  Fenton, 
who  wrote  in  1569,  says :  "There  is  to  be  found  in  the  heads 
of  old  and  great  toads  a  stone  they  call  borax  or  stelon ;"  and 
he  adds,  "They,  being  used  as  rings,  give  forewarning 
against  venom."  Their  composition  is  not  actually  known; 
by  some  they  are  thought  to  be  a  stone — by  others,  a  shell ; 
but  of  whatever  they  may  be  formed  there  is  to  be  seen  in 
them  a  figure  resembling  that  of  a  toad,  but  whether  produced 
accidentally  or  by  artificial  means,  is  not  known,  though, 
according  to  Albertus  Magnus,  the  stone  always  bore  the 
figure  on  its  surface  when  it  was  taken  out  of  the  toad's  head. 
Lupton,  in  his  "One  Thousand  Notable  Things,"  says:  "A 
toad-stone,  called  crepaudina,  touching  any  part  envenomed, 
hurt  or  stung  with  rat,  spider,  wasp  or  any  other  venomous 
beast,  ceases  the  pain  or  swelling  thereof. ' '  The  well  known 
lines  in  Shakespeare  are  doubtless  in  allusion  to  the  virtue 
which  Lupton  says  it  possesses — 

"  Sweet  are  the  uses  of  adversity, 
Which,  like  a  toad,  ugly  and  venomous, 
Wears  yet  a  precious  jewel  in  his  head." 

*     And  Lyly,  in  his  Euphues,  says — 

"The  foule  toad  hath  a  faire  stone  in  his  head." 


Royal  Dinner  Time. 

The  Khan  of  the  Tartars,  who  had  not  a  house  to  dwell  in, 
who  subsisted  by  rapine,  and  lived  on  mare's  milk  and  horse 
flesh,  every  day  after  his  repast  caused  a  herald  to  proclaim, 


319 

"That  the  Khan  having  dined,  all  other  potentates,  princes 
and  great  men  of  the  earth  might  go  to  dinner." 

Throwing  an  Old  Shoe. 

The  custom  of  throwing  an  old  shoe  after  a  person  is  still, 
in  many  rural  districts,  believed  to  propitiate  success,  as  in 
servants  seeking  or  entering  upon  situations,  or  about  to  be 
married.  In  Scripture,  "the  receiving  of  a  shoe  was  an  evi- 
dence and  symbol  of  asserting  or  accepting  dominion  or 
ownership;  the  giving  back  the  shoe  was  the  symbol  of 
rejecting  or  resigning  it."  Hence  the  throwing  of  a  shoe 
after  a  bride  was  a  symbol  of  renunciation  of  dominion  over 
her  by  her  father  or  guardian ;  and  the  receipt  of  the  shoe  by 
the  bridegroom,  even  if  accidental,  was  an  omen  that  the 
authority  was  transferred  to  him. 

Cock-crowing  an  Omen  of  Victory. 

Cicero  quotes  an  instance  where  a  Boeotian  soothsayer 
promised  victory  to  the  Thebans  from  the  crowing  of  a  cock. 
The  same  circumstance  once  served  the  Boeotians  as  an  omen 
of  victory  over  the  Lacedaemonians. 

The  Unicorn's  Horn. 

The  unicorn's  horn  was  considered  an  amulet  of  singular 
efficacy.  It  is  now  known  that  the  object  shown  as  such  in 
various  museums  is  the  horn  of  the  rhinoceros.  They  were 
sold  at  six  thousand  ducats,  and  were  thought  infallible  tests 
of  poison,  just  as  Venitian  glass  and  some  sorts  of  jewels  were. 
The  Dukes  of  Burgundy  kept  pieces  of  the  horn  in  their  wins 
jugs,  and  used  others  to  touch  all  the  meat  they  tasted. 


920 

Drinking-cups  of  this  kind  were  greatly  esteemed  in  former 
times.  In  the  inventory  of  jewels  and  plate  in  the  Tower 
(1649),  w^tn  CUPS  and  beakers  of  unicorn's  horn,  is  entered, 
"A  rinoceras  cupp,  graven  with  figures,  with  a  golden  foot," 
valued  at  £12.  Decker,  in  "Gul's  Hornbook,"  speaks  of 
"the  unicorn  whose  horn  is  worth  a  city." 

The  Evil  Eye  in  Spain. 

In  the  Gitano  language  casting  the  evil  eye  is  called 
querclar  nasula,  which  simply  means  "making  sick,"  and 
which,  according  to  the  common  superstition,  is  accomplished 
by  casting  an  evil  look  at  people,  especially  at  children,  who, 
from  the  tenderness  of  their  constitution,  are  supposed  to  be 
more  easily  blighted  than  those  of  a  more  mature  age.  After 
receiving  the  evil  glance,  they  fall  sick  and  die  in  a  few  hours. 
The  Spaniards  have  very  little  to  say  about  the  evil  eye, 
though  the  belief  in  it  is  very  prevalent,  especially  in  And- 
alusia, among  the  lower  orders.  A  stag's  horn  is  considered  a 
good  safeguard,  and  on  that  account  a  small  horn,  tipped  with 
silver,  is  frequently  attached  to  the  children's  necks  by  means 
of  a  cord  braided  from  the  hair  of  a  black  mare's  tail.  Should 
the  evil  glance  be  cast,  it  is  imagined  that  the  horn  receives 
it,  and  instantly  snaps  asunder.  Such  horns  may  be  purchased 
in  some  of  the  silversmiths'  shops  at  Seville— Borrow. 

Witchcraft  Charms. 

The  charms  by  which  witches  worked  were  short  rhymes  at 
the  different  stages.  In  the  fifteenth  century  an  old  dame 
was  tried  for  using  witchcraft  in  curing  diseases,  when  the 
judges  promised  to  liberate  her  if  she  would  divulge  her 
charm.  This  she  readily  did,  and  informed  the  court  tfcrt 


321 

the  charm  consisted  in  repeating  the  following  words,  after 
the  stipulated  pay,  which  was  a  loaf  of  bread  and  a  penny — 

"  My  loaf  in  my  lap, 
My  penny  in  my  purse, 
Thou  art  never  the  better, 
And  I  am  never  the  worse." 

That  was  ludicrous  indeed.     Here  is  a   "Charme  for  a 

Thorne" — 

"  Christ  was  of  a  Virgin  born, 
And  he  was  pricked  with  a  thorn; 
And  it  did  neither  bell  nor  swell, 
And  I  trust  in  Jesus  this  never  will." 

For  "A  Burning  ":— 

"There  came  three  angels  out  of  the  East: 
The  one  brought  fire,  the  other  brought  froit— 
Out  fire — in  frost, 

In  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  Son 
And  Holy  Ghost.     Amen." 

A  Mountain  Highway. 

During  the  occupation  of  Java  by  the  English  in  May,  1814, 
it  was  unexpectedly  discovered  that  in  a  remote  but  populous 
part  of  the  island  a  road  leading  to  the  top  of  the  mountain 
of  Sumbeng,  one  of  the  highest  in  Java,  had  been  constructed. 
The  delusion  which  gave  rise  to  the  work  had  its  origin  in  the 
province  of  Banyunas,  in  the  territories  of  the  Susunan,  and 
the  infection  spread  to  the  territory  of  the  Sultan,  and  thence 
extended  to  that  of  the  Europeans. 

On  examination,  a  road  was  found  constructed  twenty  feet 
broad  and  from  fifty  to  sixty  miles  long,  and  it  was  wonder- 
fully smooth  and  well  made.  One  point  which  appears  to 
have  been  considered  necessary,  was  that  this  road  should  not 
cross  rivers,  and  in  consequence  it  wound  in  a  thousand  ways. 


322 

Another  point  as  peremptorily  insisted  upon,  was  that  its 
course  should  not  be  interrupted  by  any  private  rights,  and  in 
consequence  trees  and  houses  were  overturned  to  make  way 
for  it.  The  population  of  whole  districts,  occasionally  to  the 
amount  of  five  or  six  thousand  laborers,  were  employed  on  the 
road,  and,  among  people  disinclined  to  active  exertion,  the 
laborious  work  was  nearly  completed  in  two  months — such  was 
the  effect  of  the  temporary  enthusiasm  with  which  they  were 
inspired. 

It  was  found  in  the  sequel  that  the  whole  work  was  set  in 
motion  by  an  old  woman  who  dreamed,  or  pretended  to  have 
dreamed,  that  a  divine  personage  was  about  to  descend  from 
heaven  on  the  mountain  in  question.  Piety  suggested  the 
propriety  of  constructing  a  road  to  facilitate  his  descent ;  and 
it  was  rumored  that  divine  vengeance  would  pursue  the  sacri- 
legious person  who  refused  to  join  in  the  meritorious  labor. 
These  reports  quickly  wrought  on  the  fears  and  ignorance  of 
the  people,  and  they  heartily  joined  in  the  enterprise.  The 
old  woman  distributed  to  the  laborers  slips  of  palm-leaves, 
with  magic  letters  written  upon  them,  which  were  charms  to 
secure  them  against  sickness  and  accidents.  When  this  strange 
affair  was  discovered  by  the  native  authorities,  orders  were 
issued  to  desist  from  the  work,  and  the  inhabitants  returned 
without  a  murmur  to  their  usual  occupations 

A  Buffalo's  Skull. 

Nowhere  has  superstition  a  greater  power  over  the  human 
mind  than  among  the  inhabitants  of  Java.  Mr.  Crawford 
relates  that  some  years  since  it  was  accidentally  discovered 
that  the  skull  of  a  buffalo  was  superstitiously  conveyed  from 
one  part  of  the  island  to  another.  The  point  insisted  upon 
was  never  to  let  it  rest,  but  to  keep  it  in  constant  progressive 
motion.  It  was  carried  in  a  basket,  and  no  sooner  was  one 


323 

person  relieved  from  the  load  than  it  was  taken  up  by  another; 
for  the  understanding  was  that  some  dreadful  imprecation  was 
denounced  against  the  man  who  should  let  it  rest.  In  this 
manner  the  skull  was  hurried  from  one  province  to  another, 
and,  after  a  circulation  of  many  hundred  miles,  it  at  length 
reached  the  town  of  Samarang,  the  Dutch  governor  of  which 
seized  it  and  threw  it  into  the  sea,  and  thus  the  spell  was 
broken.  The  Javanese  expressed  no  resentment,  and  nothing 
further  was  heard  of  this  unaccountable  transaction.  None 
could  tell  how  or  where  it  originated. 

Superstitious  Notion  of  the  Number  One. 

The  Bedui,  a  people  found  in  the  interior  of  Bantam,  Java, 
have  a  superstitious  notion  of  the  number  one.  It  is  an  estab- 
lished rule  among  them  to  allot  but  one  day  for  each  of  the 
different  successive  operations  of  husbandry, — one  day  for 
cutting  down  the  trees  and  underwood ;  one  day  for  clearing 
what  has  been  so  cut  down ;  one  day  for  sowing  the  grain ; 
one  for  weeding  the  field;  one  for  reaping;  one  for  binding 
up  the  grain;  one  for  carrying  it  home.  If  any  part  of  what 
has  been  reaped  cannot  be  carried  home  in  one  day,  it  is  left 
to  rot  in  the  field. 


Thunder  and  Lightning. 

Thunder  and  lightning  have  been  fruitful  sources  of  super- 
stitious terror.  The  ancients  considered  lightning  as  a  visible 
manifestation  of  Divine  wrath;  hence  whatever  was  struck 
with  it  was  considered  to  be  accursed  and  separated  from 
human  uses.  The  corpse  of  a  person  struck  by  lightning  was 
never  removed  from  the  place  where  it  fell ;  there  it  lay,  and, 
with  everything  pertaining  to  it,  was  covered  with  earth  and 


324 

enclosed  by  a  rail  or  mound.  In  some  parts  of  the  East, 
however,  it  is  considered  a  mark  of  Divine  favor  to  be  struck 
by  lightning.  In  England,  formerly,  during  storms,  bells 
were  rung,  and  the  aid  of  Saint  Barnabas  was  invoked,  in 
abbeys,  to  drive  away  thunder  and  lightning. 

The  bay-tree  was  commonly  believed  to  afford  protection 
from  lightning.  It  was  also  believed  that  if  a  fir-tree  were 
touched,  withered  or  burned  by  lightning,  its  owner  would 
soon  die.  It  was  customary  to  place  a  piece  of  iron  on  the 
beer  barrel,  during  a  storm,  to  keep  the  beer  from  souring. 

Manna  Marked  with  the  Number  Six. 

In  the  Calaba,  the  number  six  was  considered  to  be  one  of 
potent  mystical  properties.  The  rabbinical  writers  assert  that 
the  manna,  when  it  was  found,  was  marked  with  the  Hebrew 
vau,  the  equivalent  of  number  six.  As  the  world  was  created 
in  six  days;  as  a  servant  had  to  serve  six  years  (Exodus  xxi.  2); 
as  the  soil  was  tilled  for  six  years  (Exodus  xxiii.  10);  as  Job 
endured  six  tribulations — so  this  number  was  typical  of  labor 
and  suffering.  Consequently  it  was  impressed  on  the  manna 
not  only  to  show  the  Israelites  that  it  fell  but  on  six  days,  but 
also  to  warn  them  of  the  miseries  they  would  undergo  if  they 
dared  to  desecrate  the  Sabbath  day. 

The  Seventh  Son  of  the  Seventh  Son. 

Grose  remarks  as  a  popular  superstition  that  the  seventh  son 
of  a  seventh  son  is  born  a  physician,  having  an  intuitive 
knowledge  of  the  art  of  healing  all  disorders,  and  sometimes 
the  faculty  of  performing  wonderful  cures  by  touching  only. 

It  is  recorded  as  a  superstition  in  Yorkshire  (1819),  that  if 
any  woman  has  seven  boys  in  succession,  the  last  should  be 


325 

bred  to  the  profession  of  medicine,  in  which  he  would  be  sure 
of  being  successful. 

In  an  article  on  "Fairy  Superstitions  in  Donegal,"  pub- 
lished in  the  University  Magazine  for  August,  1879,  are  the 
following  statements  respecting  the  seventh  son:  "It  is  not 
generally  known  that  a  particular  ceremony  must  be  observed 
at  the  moment  of  the  infant's  birth,  in  order  to  give  him  his 
healing  power.  The  woman  who  receives  him  in  her  arms 
places  in  his  tiny  hand  whatever  substance  she  decides  that  he 
shall  rub  with  in  after  life,  and  she  is  very  careful  not  to  let 
him  touch  anything  until  this  shall  have  been  accomplished. 
If  silver  is  to  be  the  charm,  she  has  provided  a  sixpenny  or 
threepenny  bit ;  but  as  the  coinage  of  the  realm  may  possibly 
change  during  his  lifetime,  and  thus  render  his  cure  valueless, 
she  has  more  likely  placed  meal  or  salt  upon  the  table,  with- 
in reach.  Sometimes  it  is  determined  that  he  is  to  rub  with 
his  own  hair,  and  in  this  case  the  father  is  summoned  and 
requested  to  kneel  down  before  his  new-born  son,  whose  little 
fingers  are  guided  to  his  head,  and  helped  to  close  upon  a  lock 
of  hair.  Whatever  substance  a  seventh  son  rubs  with  must 
be  worn  by  his  patients  so  long  as  they  live." 

Virtue  in  the  Number  Seven. 

In  the  manuscript  on  Witchcraft,  by  John  Bell,  a  Scottish 
minister  (1705),  he  says:  "Are  there  not  some  who  cure  by 
observing  number?  after  the  example  of  Balaam,  who  used 
inagiam  geometricam  (Numbers  xxiii.  i),  'Build  me  here 
seven  altars,  and  prepare  me  here  seven  oxen  and  seven  rams,' 
etc.  There  are  some  witches  who  enjoin  the  sick  to  dip  their 
shirt  seven  times  in  south-running  water.  Elisha  sends 
Naaman  to  wash  in  Jordan  seven  times.  Elijah,  on  the  top 
of  Carmel,  sends  his  servant  seven  times  to  look  for  rain. 
When  Jericho  was  taken  they  compassed  the  city  seven  times." 


326 

Not  only  the  ancient  Jews  but  the  heathens  regarded  this 
number  of  great  efficacy  in  religious  ceremonies.  Apuleius 
says :  "Desirous  of  purifying  myself,  I  wash  in  the  sea,  and  dip 
my  head  in  the  waves  seven  times,  Pythagoras  having  thought 
that  this  number  is,  above  all  others,  most  proper  in  the  con- 
cerns of  religion." 

The  Bektashi  dervishes  of  Turkey  have  many  superstitious 
beliefs  in  connection  with  their  girdle,  cap  and  cloak.  One 
ceremony  with  the  stone  worn  in  the  girdle  is  rather  striking. 
The  Sheikh  puts  it  in  and  out  seven  times,  saying:  "I  tie  up 
greediness,  and  unbind  generosity.  I  tie  up  anger,  and 
unbind  meekness.  I  tie  up  ignorance,  and  unbind  the  fear  of 
God.  I  tie  up  passion,  and  unbind  the  love  of  God.  I  tie 
up  the  devilish,  and  unbind  the  divine." 

In  Lane's  "Modern  Egyptians,"  mention  is  made  of  a 
ridiculous  ceremony  for  the  cure  of  a  pimple  on  the  edge  of 
the  eyelid.  The  person  affected  with  it  goes  to  any  seven 
women  of  the  name  of  Fa't'meh,  in  seven  different  houses, 
and  begs  from  each  of  them  a  morsel  of  bread ;  these  seven 
morsels  constitute  the  remedy. 

A  curious  French  manuscript  belonging  to  the  latter  part  of 
the  thirteenth  century  has  a  singular  illustration  of  the  num- 
ber seven.  It  is  a  miniature, — a  wheel  cut  into  seven  rays, 
and  composed  of  seven  concentric  cordons.  The  rays  form 
seven  compartments  divided  into  as  many  cordons,  contain- 
ing in  each  cordon  one  of  the  seven  petitions  of  the  Lord's 
prayer,  one  of  the  seven  sacraments,  one  of  the  seven  spiritual 
arms  of  justice,  one  of  the  seven  works  of  mercy,  one  of  the 
seven  virtues,  and  one  of  the  seven  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost. — 
William  Jones,  F.S.  A. 

Onomancy. 

The  notion  that  an  analogy  existed  between  men's  names 
and  their  fortunes  is  supposed  to  have  originated  with  the 


32T 

Pythagoreans;  it  furnished  some  reveries  for  Plato,  and  has 
been  the  source  of  much  wit  to  Ausonius.  Two  leading  rules 
in  what  was  called  Onomancy  were,  first,  that  an  even  number 
of  vowels  in  a  man's  name  signified  something  amiss  in  his 
left  side ;  an  uneven  number,  a  similar  affection  in  the  right ; 
so  that  between  the  two  perfect  sanity  was  little  to  be 
expected.  Secondly,  of  two  competitors,  that  one  would 
prove  successful  the  numeral  letters  in  whose  name,  when 
summed  up,  exceeded  the  amount  of  those  in  the  name  of  his 
rival ;  and  this  was  one  of  the  reasons  which  enabled  Achilles 
to  triumph  over  Hector. 

Mystic  Gifts. 

Chrysostom  says  that  the  three  gifts  of  the  three  Magi — 
gold,  myrrh  and  frankincense — were  mystic  gifts,  signifying 
that  Christ  was  king,  man  and  God. 

Exterminating  Vermin. 

In  France  it  is  believed  that  water  from  the  well  of  the 
Church  of  St.  Gertrude  of  Nivelles  will  drive  away  rats  and 
mice  if  sprinkled  about  the  house.  Earth  from  the  tomb  of 
St.  Ulric,  at  Augsbourg,  is  believed  to  possess  the  same  virtue. 
In  Scotland  it  was  the  custom  to  paste  the  following  rhyme 
against  the  wall  of  the  house — 

"  Ratton  and  mouse, 
Lea'  the  puir  woman's  house; 
Gang  awa'  owre  by  to  the  mill, 
And  there  ye '11  a'  get  ye'r  fill." 

The  Bulgarians  beat  copper  pans  all  over  the  house  on  the 
last  day  of  February,  calling  out  at  the  same  time,  ' '  Out  with 
you,  serpents,  scorpions,  fleas,  bugs  and  flies ! ' '  A  pan  held 
by  a  pair  of  tongs  is  put  outside  in  the  courtyard. 


328 

Perforated  Stones. 

Creeping  through  perforated  stones  was  a  Druidical  cere- 
mony, and  is  practiced  in  the  East  Indies.  Barlase  mentions 
a  stone  in  the  parish  of  Marsden,  Cornwall,  through  which 
many  persons  have  crept  for  pains  in  their  backs  and  limbs, 
and  many  children  have  been  drawn  for  the  rickets.  He  adds 
that  two  brass  pins  were  carefully  laid  across  each  other  on 
the  top  edge  of  this  stone,  for  oracular  purposes. 

St.  Helena  Coins. 

Among  amulets  in  repute  in  the  Middle  Ages  were  the 
coins  attributed  to  St.  Helena,  the  mother  of  Constantine. 
These  and  other  coins  marked  with  a  cross  were  thought 
especially  efficacious  against  epilepsy,  and  are  generally  found 
perforated  for  the  purpose  of  being  worn  suspended  from  the 
neck. 

Weighing  a  Witch. 

At  Wingrave,  in  Buckinghamshire,  in  1759,  a  case  occurred 
of  the  old  popular  witchcraft  trial  by  weighing  against  the  church 
Bible.  One  Susannah  Hameokes,  an  elderly  woman,  was 
accused  by  a  neighbor  of  being  a  witch.  The  overt  act  offered 
in  proof  was,  that  she  had  bewitched  the  said  neighbor's  spin- 
ning-wheel, so  that  she  could  not  make  it  go  round  either  one 
way  or  the  other.  The  complaining  party  offered  to  make 
oath  of  the  fact  before  a  magistrate,  on  which  the  husband  ot 
the  poor  woman,  in  order  to  justify  his  wife,  insisted  that  she 
should  be  tried  by  the  church  Bible,  and  that  the  accuser 
should  be  present.  The  woman  was  accordingly  conducted 
by  her  husband  to  the  ordeal,  attended  by  a  great  concourse 
of  people,  who  flocked  to  the  parish  church  to  see  the  cere- 


329 

mony.  Being  stripped  of  nearly  all  her  clothes,  she  was  put 
into  one  scale  and  the  Bible  into  another,  when,  to  the  no 
small  astonishment  and  mortification  of  her  accuser,  she 
actually  outweighed  it,  and  was  honorably  acquitted  of  the 
charge. 

Poetry  of  Omens. 

Omens  constitute  the  poetry  of  history.  They  cause  the 
series  of  events  which  they  are  supposed  to  declare  to  flow 
into  epical  unity,  and  the  political  catastrophe  seems  to  be 
produced  not  by  prudence  or  by  folly,  but  by  the  superin- 
tending destiny.  The  numerous  tokens  of  the  death  of  Henry 
IV.  are  finely  tragical.  Mary  de  Medicis,  in  her  dream,  saw 
the  brilliant  gems  of  her  crown  change  into  pearls,  the  symbol 
of  tears  and  mourning.  An  owl  hooted  until  sunrise  at  the 
window  of  the  chamber  to  which  the  king  and  queen  retired 
at  St.  Denis,  on  the  night  preceding  her  coronation.  Dur- 
ing the  ceremony,  it  was  observed,  with  dread,  that  the  dark 
portals  leading  to  the  royal  sepulchre,  beneath  the  choir,  were 
gaping  and  expanded.  The  flame  of  the  consecrated  taper 
held  by  the  queen  was  suddenly  extinguished,  and  twice  her 
crown  nearly  fell  to  the  ground.  The  prognostications  of  the 
misfortunes  of  the  Stuarts  have  equally  a  character  of  solemn 
grandeur;  and  we  are  reminded  of  the  portents  of  Rome 
when  we  read  how  the  sudden  tempest  rent  the  royal  standard 
on  the  Tower  of  London.  Charles  I. ,  yielding  to  his  destiny, 
was  obstinate  in  the  signs  of  evil  death.  He  refused  to  be 
clad  in  the  garments  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  in  which  all 
his  predecessors  had  been  arrayed,  and  he  would  be  attired  in 
white  velvet.  Strongly  did  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  attempt  to 
dissuade  him — for  the  prophecy  of  the  misfortunes  of  the 
white  king  had  long  been  current ;  but  his  entreaties  were  in 
vain,  and  Charles  was  crowned  invested  with  the  raiment 
which  indicated  his  misfortunes. — Quarterly  Review, 


330 

House  Crickets. 

It  is  singular  that  the  house  cricket  should,  by  some  weak 
persons,  be  considered  a  lucky,  and  by  others  an  unlucky, 
inmate  of  a  dwelling.  Those  who  hold  the  former  opinion  con- 
sider its  destruction  the  means  of  bringing  misfortune  on  their 
habitations.  "In  Dumfriesshire,"  says  Sir  William  Jardine, 
"  it  is  a  common  superstition,  that  if  crickets  forsake  a  house 
which  they  have  long  inhabited,  some  evil  will  befall  the 
family — generally  the  death  of  some  member  is  portended. 
In  like  manner,  the  presence  or  return  of  this  cheerful  little 
insect  is  lucky,  and  portends  some  good  to  the  family." 

Sitting  Cross-Legged. 

Sir  Thomas  Browne  tells  us  that  to  sit  cross-legged,  or  with 
our  fingers  pectinated  or  shut  together,  is  accounted  bad,  and 
friends  will  dissuade  us  from  it.  The  same  conceit  religiously 
possessed  the  ancients;  but  Mr.  Park  says:  "To  sit  cross- 
legged,  I  have  always  understood,  was  intended  to  produce 
good  or  fortunate  consequences.  Hence  it  was  employed  as 
a  charm  at  school,  by  one  boy  who  wished  well  for  another, 
in  order  to  deprecate  some  punishment  which  both  might 
tremble  to  have  incurred  the  expectation  of.  At  a  card-table 
I  have  also  caught  some  superstitious  players  sitting  cross- 
legged,  with  a  view  of  bringing  good  luck." — Brand. 

The  Death-Watch. 

This  name  has  been  given  to  a  harmless  little  insect  which 
lives  in  old  timber,  and  produced  a  noise  which  somewhat 
resembles  the  ticking  of  a  watch.  It  is  simply  the  call  of  the 
insect  to  another  of  its  kind,  when  spring  is  far  advanced. 


331 

The  general  number  of  distinct  strokes  in  succession  is  from 
seven  to  nine,  or  eleven,  and  the  noise  exactly  resembles  that 
produced  by  tapping  moderately  with  the  finger  nail  upon  a 
table,  and,  when  familiarized,  the  insect  will  readily  answer  to 
the  tap  of  the  nail.  The  noise  used  to  be  regarded  as  an 
omen  of  death  in  the  family,  and  is  mentioned  by  Baxter  in 
his  "World  of  Spirits."  Swift  ridicules  the  superstition  as 
follows: — 

"A  wood  worm, 

That  lies  in  old  wood,  like  a  hare  in  her  form, 
With  teeth  or  with  claws  it  will  bite,  it  will  scratch, 
And  chamber-maids  christen  this  worm  a  death-watch; 
Because,  like  a  watch,  it  always  cries  click : 
Then  woe  be  to  those  in  the  house  that  are  sick! 
For,  sure  as  a  gun,  they  will  give  up  the  ghost, 
If  the  maggot  cries  click  when  it  scratches  the  post. 
But  a  kettle  of  scalding  hot  water  injected, 
Infallibly  cures  the  timber  affected ; 
The  omen  is  broken,  the  danger  is  over, 
The  maggot  will  die,  the  sick  will  recover. v 


Sundry  Rural  Charms. 

For  good  bread — 

This  I  '11  tell  ye,  by  the  way : 
Maidens,  when  ye  leavens  lay, 
Cross  your  dow  and  your  dispatch 
Will  be  better  for  your  batch. — Herrick. 

To  make  the  butter  come — 

Come  butter,  come, 
Come  butter,  come, 
Peter  stands  at  the  gate 
Waiting  for  a  butter' d  cake, 
Come  butter,  come. 


332 


Scattering  wash-water — 


In  the  morning,  when  ye  rise, 

Wash  your  hands  and  cleanse  your  eyes. 

Next  be  sure  ye  have  a  care 

To  disperse  the  water  farre, 

For  as  farre  as  that  doth  light, 

So  farre  keeps  the  evil  spright. — Herrick. 

There   is   mention  of  older  charms  in  "Bale's  Interlude 
Concerning  the  Laws  of  Nature,  Moses  and  Christ,"  1562 — 

"  With  blessynges  of  Saynt  Germayne 
I  will  me  so  determyne 
That  neyther  fox  nor  vermyne 

Shall  do  my  chyckens  harme ; 
For  your  gese  seke  Saynt  Legearde, 
And  for  your  duckes  Saynt  Leonarde, 
There  is  no  better  charme." 

"Take  me  a  napkin  folte 
With  the  byas  of  a  bolte, 
For  the  healing  of  a  colte 

No  better  thynge  can  be; 
For  lampes  and  for  bottes 
iake  me  Saynt  Wilfrid's  knottes, 
And  holy  Saynt  Thomas  Lottes, 
On  my  life  I  warrande  ye." 


Charm  against  Dogs. 

On  the  22d  of  November  the  sun  enters  Sagittarius. 
According  to  an  old  magical  manuscript  of  the  fourteenth 
century,  an  aspect  of  "Sagittary"  seems  to  have  dominion 
over  dogs.  "When  you  wish  to  enter  where  there  are  dogs, 
that  they  may  not  hinder  you,  make  a  tin  image  of  a  dog, 
whose  head  is  erected  towards  his  tail,  under  the  first  face  of 
Sagittary,  and  say  over  it,  *  I  bind  all  dogs  by  this  image, 


33S 

that  they  do  not  raise  their  heads  or  bark;'  and  enter  where 

you  please. ' '  — Fosbroke. 

Barnacles. 

An  extraordinary  belief  was  long  current  that  the  barnacle, 
which  is  found  adhering  to  the  bottom  of  ships,  would,  when 
broken  off,  become  a  species  of  goose.  Several  old  writers 
assert  this,  and  Holinshed  gravely  declares,  that  "with  his 
own  eyes  he  saw  the  feathers  of  these  barnacles  hang  out  of 
the  shell  at  least  two  inches."  Giraldus  Cambrensis  gives 
similar  ocular  testimony.  "Who,"  he  says,  "can  marvel 
that  this  should  be  so  ?  When  our  first  parent  was  made  of 
mud,  can  we  be  surprised  that  a  bird  should  be  born  of  a 
tree?"  The  following  lines  occur  in  Isaac  Walton's  quota- 
tions from  "  The  Divine  Weekes  and  Workes  "  of  Du  Bartas — 

"  So,  Sly  Boots,  underneath  him  fees 
In  the  cycles,  those  goslings  hatcht  of  trees, 
Whose  fmitfull  leaves  falling  into  the  water 
Are  turn'd  (they  say)  to  living  fowls  soon  after. 
So  rotten  sides  of  broken  ships  do  change 
To  barnacles!     O,  transformation  strange  ! 
'Twas  first  a  green  tree,  then  a  gallant  hull, 
Lately  a  mushroom,  now  a  flying  gull!" 

In  a  description  of  West  Connaught,  Ireland,  by  Roderic 
O'Flaherty  (1684),  the  barnacle  is  thus  mentioned:  "There 
is  the  bird  engendered  by  the  sea,  out  of  timber  long  lying  in 
the  sea.  Some  call  these  birds  clakes,  and  solan 'd  geese,  and 
some  puffins,  others  barnacles;  we  call  them  girrinn."  But' 
ler  tells  us,  in  "Hudibras,"  of  those 

"  Who  from  the  most  refined  of  saints 
As  naturally  grow  miscreants, 
As  barnacles  turn  soland  geese 
IB  the  islands  of  the  Orcades." 


354 

The  numerous  tentacles  or  arms  of  the  animal  inhabiting 
the  barnacle  shells,  which  are  disposed  in  a  semicircular  form 
and  have  a  feathery  appearance,  seem  to  have  been  all  that 
could  reasonably  have  been  alleged  in  favor  of  this  strange 
supposition. 

Odd  Way  to  Discover  a  Dead  Body. 

In  the  "Gentleman's  Magazine"  (February  8th,  1767),  is 
a  curious  notice  of  the  mode  of  discovering  the  body  of  a 
drowned  person:  "An  inquisition  was  taken  at  Newbury, 
Berks,  on  the  body  of  a  child  nearly  two  years  old,  who  fell 
into  the  river  Kennet,  and  was  drowned.  The  body  was  dis- 
covered by  a  very  singular  experiment.  After  diligent  search 
had  been  made  in  the  river  for  the  child,  to  no  purpose,  a 
two-penny  loaf,  with  a  quantity  of  quicksilver  put  into  it,  was 
set  floating  from  the  place  where  the  child,  it  was  supposed, 
had  fallen  in,  which  steered  its  course  down  the  river  upwards 
of  half  a  mile,  before  a  great  number  of  spectators,  when  the 
body,  happening  to  lay  on  the  contrary  side  of  the  river,  the 
loaf  suddenly  tacked  about  and  swam  across  the  river,  and 
gradually  sunk  near  the  child,  when  both  the  child  and  the 
loaf  were  brought  up  with  grabbers  ready  for  that  purpose. ' ' 


The  Salagrama  Stone. 

In  India  the  "salagrama"  stone  is  supposed  to  possess 
extraordinary  powers.  It  is  about  the  size  of  a  billiard  ball, 
of  a  black  color,  and  usually  perforated,  as  if  by  worms.  It 
is  believed  to  be  found  only  in  the  Gandaki,  a  river  in  Nepaul, 
which,  according  to  the  followers  of  Vishnu,  flows  from  the 
foot  of  that  deity,  but,  according  to  the  Saivas,  from  the  head 
of  Siva.  The  fortunate  possessor  of  this  stone  preserves  it  in 
a  clean  cloth,  from  which  it  is  frequently  taken  and  bathed 


335 

and  perfumed.  The  water  with  which  the  ablution  is  per- 
formed acquires  a  sin-expelling  potency,  and  it  is  therefore 
swallowed  and  greatly  prized.  This  stone  possesses  many 
other  mysterious  powers,  and  in  death  it  is  an  essential  ingredi- 
ent in  the  viaticum.  The  departing  Hindoo  holds  it  in  his 
hand,  and,  through  his  confidence  in  its  influence,  hope 
brightens  the  future,  and  he  dies  in  peace. 

Charm  for  the  Cramp. 

Coleridge  tells  us  of  a  couplet  that  it  was  common  to  repeat 
in  his  boyhood,  to  relieve  the  foot  when  asleep,  or  to  cure  the 
cramp  in  the  leg.  The  sufferer  pressed  the  sole  of  the  foot 
hard  on  the  floor,  and  said — 

"The  devil  is  tying  a  knot  in  my  leg! 
Mark,  Luke  and  John,  unloose  it,  I  beg!" 

Fisherman9 s  Luck. 

The  fishermen  of  the  Firth  of  Forth  believed  that  if  they 
chanced  to  meet  a  woman  barefooted,  who  had  broad  feet  and 
flattish  great  toes,  when  they  were  proceeding  to  go  to  sea, 
they  would  have  "bad  luck,"  and,  consequently,  need  not  go 
out  in  search  of  fish.  It  was  also  considered  unlucky  to  sell 
fish  for  the  first  time  in  the  day  to  a  person  having  broad 
thumbs. 

The  Swedish  anglers  say  that  if  a  woman  strides  the  rod,  no 
trout  will  be  caught  that  day.  Tackle,  they  say,  stolen  from 
a  friend  or  neighbor,  would  bring  better  luck  than  that  bought 
with  money. 

In  Forfarshire  there  are  fishermen  who,  on  a  hare  crossing 
their  path,  while  on  their  way  to  their  boats,  will  not  put  to 
sea. 


336 

It  is  unfortunate,  on  starting  out,  to  sneeze  to  the  left  side  •, 
the  print  of  a  flat  foot  in  the  sand  is  considered  unlucky. 

Fishermen,  while  standing  or  walking,  consider  it  unlucky 
to  be  numbered,  or  to  be  asked  where  they  are  going.  A  pin 
picked  up  in  church,  and  made  into  a  hook,  brings  iuck. 

Luck  of  Birthdays. 

In  the  west  of  England  the  fortunes  of  children  are  believed 
to  be  much  regulated  by  the  day  of  the  week  on  which  they 

are  born — 

"  Monday's  child  is  fair  in  face, 
Tuesday's  child  is  full  of  grace, 
Wednesday's  child  is  full  of  woe, 
Thursday's  child  has  far  to  go, 
Friday's  child  is  loving  and  giving, 
Saturday's  child  works  hard  for  its  living; 
And  a  child  that's  born  on  a  Christmas  day 
Is  fair  and  wise,  good  and  gay." 


Sleeping  on  Stones. 

Borlase,  in  his  Aiiciquities  of  Cornwall,  mentions,  as  a  relic 
of  Druid  fancies  and  incantations,  the  custom  of  sleeping  on 
stones,  on  a  particular  night,  in  order  to  be  cured  of  lameness. 


Spilling  Salt.  \ 

In  Scotland  there  exists  a  common  belief  that  it  is  unlucky 
to  spill  salt  at  table,  but  that  the  luck  can  be  changed  by  tak- 
ing up  a  pinch  of  the  spilled  salt  and  throwing  it  over  the  left 
shoulder.  To  spill  salt  on  Friday  is  considered  especially 

unlucky. 

"  Help  me  to  salt, 
Help  me  to  sorrow" 


337 

Is  a  saying  among  the  Highlanders,  and  they  always  decline 
salt  with  a  wave  of  the  hand.  The  popular  superstition  of  this 
accident  being  unlucky  is  said  to  have  originated  in  the  cele- 
brated picture  of  The  Last  Supper,  by  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  in 
which  Judas  Iscariot  is  represented  as  overturning  the  salt. 
Among  the  Italians,  to  spill  oil  at  table  is  regarded  as  an  omen 
of  the  worst  import. 

Charm  for  the  Ague. 

This  charm  for  the  ague,  on  "St.  Agnes'  Eve,"  is  recited 
up  the  chimney,  in  England,  by   the   eldest  female  in  the 

family — 

"  Tremble  and  go ! 
First  day  shiver  and  burn; 
Tremble  and  quake ! 
Second  day  shiver  and  learn ; 
Tremble  and  die ! 
Third  day  never  return." 


Ancient  Practice  of  Medicine. 

The  blood  of  an  innocent  child,  or  of  a  virgin,  was  believed 
to  cure  the  leprosy;  that  of  an  executed  criminal,  the  falling 
sickness.  The  hearts  of  animals,  because  the  seat  of  life, 
were  held  to  be  potent  drugs.  The  Rosicrucian  physicians 
treated  a  case  of  wounding  by  applying  the  salve  to  the 
weapon,  instead  of  to  the  wound  itself. 


Amethyst  Amulets. 

The  ancients  imagined  that  the  amethyst  possessed  the 
property  of  preventing  intoxication,  and  persons  much  ad- 
dicted to  drinking  therefore  wore  it  on  their  necks. 


338 

Preservative  against  Toothache; 

In  some  parts  of  England  it  is  believed  that  carrying  sus- 
pended round  the  neck  a  molar-tooth  taken  from  some  grave 
in  the  church-yard,  is  a  preservative  against  toothache. 


Mixed  Moons. 

The  dim  form  of  the  full  moon  seen  with  the  new  moon  was 
considered  an  evil  sign  by  the  sailors  of  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries — 

"I  saw  the  new  moon  late  yestreen, 
With  the  old  moon  in  her  arm, 
And'if  we  go  to  sea,  master, 
I  fear  we  'llfcome  to  harm." 

The  Blood  of  the  Martyrs. 

During  the  horrible  persecutions  of  the  primitive  Christians 
at  Rome,  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  was  esteemed  a  talisman  of 
especial  power.  A  sponge  saturated  therewith  was  sometimes 
worn  as  a  sacred  relic.  Prudentius  describes  the  spectators  of 
the  martyrdom  of  St.  Vincent  as  dipping  their  clothes  in  his 
blood,  that  they  might  keep  it  as  a  sort  of  palladium  for  suc- 
cessive generations — 

"  Crowds  haste  the  linen  vest  to  stain, 
With  gore  distill' d  from  martyr's  vein, 
And  thus  a  holy  safeguard  place 
At  home,  to  shield  a  future  race." 


The  First  Sale  for  the  Day. 

In  London,  in  the  street  market-places,  amongst  the  stall- 
keepers,  it  is  considered  unfortunate  to  refuse  a  "first  bid" 


339 

for  an  article.  It  brings  bad  luck  on  the  day's  selling,  and  it 
is  better  to  get  the  first  sale  over,  even  at  a  loss.  In  all  such 
places,  much  to  the  stall-keeper's  exasperation,  there  are  to 
be  found  mean  folks  who  are  known  as  hansel  (first-sale) 
hunters,  and  who  are  early  at  market,  on  the  alert  to  take 
advantage  of  the  poor  vendor's  superstition.  The  latter  is 
well  aware  of  the  paltry  device  to  obtain  goods  at  less  than 
cost  price ;  but  though  he  may  swear  somewhat,  he  will  rarely 
turn  away  the  "first  bid,"  and  "chance"  it  for  the  day. 
When  he  has  taken  hansel  money,  he  would  as  soon  think  of 
throwing  it  into  the  road  as  putting  it  into  his  pocket  with- 
out first  "spitting  upon  it." 

Arsenic  as  an  Amulet. 

During  the  severe  visitation  of  the  plague  in  London, 
amulets  composed  of  arsenic  were  very  commonly  worn  in  the 
region  of  the  heart,  upon  the  principle  that  one  poison  would 
drive  out  or  prevent  the  entry  of  another.  Large  quantities 
of  arsenic  were  imported  into  London  for  the  purpose.  Dr. 
Henry,  in  his  "  Preservatives  against  the  Pestilence  "  (1625), 
wrote  against  them  as  "dangerous  and  hurtful,  if  not  per- 
nicious to  those  who  wear  them. ' '  The  wearing  of  arsenic  in 
the  way  of  an  amulet,  common  in  olden  times,  is  said  to  have 
arisen  chiefly  from  ignorance  of  Arabic,  the  word  in  the 
Arabian  authors  which  is  rendered  arsenic  properly  signifying 
cinnamon. 

Red  Tape  a  Protection  against  the 
Plague. 

Taylor,  in  his  "Account  of  the  Rebellion  in  Wexford," 
relates  a  curious  story  of  the  amuletive  properties  of  red  tape 
as  a  protection  against  the  plague:  "Before  the  rebellion 


340 

broke  out  in  Wexford,  all  the  red  tape  in  the  country  was 
bought  up,  and  more  ordered  from  Dublin.  It  was  generally 
bought  in  half-yards,  and  all  the  Roman  Catholic  children, 
boys  and  girls,  wore  it  round  their  necks.  This  was  so  general 
and  so  remarkable  as  to  occasion  some  inquiry,  and  the 
reason  given  was  this:  A  priest  had  dreamed  there  would  be  a 
great  plague  among  all  the  children  of  their  church  under  fif- 
teen years  of  age ;  that  their  brains  would  boil  out  at  the  back 
of  their  heads.  He  dreamed  also  that  there  was  a  charm  to 
prevent  it,  which  was  to  get  some  red  tape,  have  it  blessed 
and  sprinkled  with  holy  water,  and  tie  it  round  the  children's 
necks  till  the  month  of  May,  when  the  season  of  danger  would 
be  past.  The  Protestants  suspected  that  it  was  intended  as  a 
mark  to  distinguish  their  own  children,  like  the  blood  of  the 
Paschal  Lamb,  when  the  Egyptian  first-born  were  to  be  cut 
off." 

Owl's  Claws. 

The  Russian  Non-conformists  (Raskolnics)  are  in  the  habit 
of  carrying  about  with  them,  in  rings  and  amulets,  parings  of 
an  owl's  claws,  and  of  their  own  nails.  Such  relics  are  sup- 
posed by  the  peasantry  in  many  parts  of  Russia  to  be  of  the 
greatest  use  to  a  man  after  his  death,  for  by  their  means  his 
soul  will  be  able  to  clamber  up  the  steep  sides  of  the  hill 
leading  to  heaven. 

Witch-ridden  Horses. 

In  olden  times  it  was  believed  that  witches  took  from  their 
stalls  the  horses,  and  rode  them  through  the  night.  Aubrey, 
in  his  "Miscellanies,"  mentions  the  practice  and  publishes  a 
remedy:  "Hang  in  a  string  a  flint  with  a  hole  in  it  by  the 
manger;  but,  best  of  all,  they  say,  hang  about  their  necks, 
and  a  flint  will  do  that  hath  not  a  hole  in  it.  It  is  to  prevent 


341 

the  nightmare,  viz :  the  hag  or  witch  from  riding  their  horses, 
who  will  sometimes  sweat  all  night."     Herrick  says — 

"  Hang  up  hooks  and  shears  to  scare 
Hence  the  hag  that  rides  the  mare, 
Till  they  be  all  over  wet 
With  the  mire  and  the  sweat ; 
This  observed,  the  manes  shall  be 
Of  your  horses  all  knot-free." 


A  Smuggler's  Talisman. 

The  following  was  found  in  a  linen  purse  on  the  body  of 
one  Jackson,  a  murderer  and  smuggler,  who  died  in  Chichester 
Goal,  February,  1749 — 

"  Ye  three  holy  kings, 
Caspar,  Melchior,  Balthasar, 
Pray  for  us  now,  and  at  the  hour  of  death." 

"  These  papers  have  touched  the  three  heads  of  the  holy 
kings  of  Cologne ;  they  are  to  preserve  travelers  from  acci- 
dents on  the  roads,  falling  sickness,  fevers,  sudden  death.'1 
He  was  struck  with  such  horror  on  being  measured  for  his 
irons,  that  he  expired  soon  afterward.  His  talisman  failed  him. 


Rubbing  with  a  Gold  Ring. 

Pegge,  in  his  "  Curialia,"  alludes  to  the  superstition  that  a 
wedding-ring  of  gold,  rubbed  on  a  stye  upon  the  eyelid,  was 
considered  a  sovereign  remedy,  but  it  required  to  be  rubbed 
nine  times.  In  Beaumont  and  Fletcher's  "  Mad  Lovers," 
reference  is  made  to  the  practice.  In  the  West  Indies  the 
explanation  of  the  merits  of  the  gold  wedding-ring  used  for 
this  purpose  is,  that  it  is  something  which,  once  given,  can 
be  taken  back ;  and  the  Barbadians  believe  if  you  give 


342 

anything  away  and  take  it  back,  you  are  sure  of  a  stye,  or 
"cat-boil,"  as  they  call  it. 

Divination  of  the  Bible  and  Key. 

This  was  long  popular,  and  is  still  practised.  A  case  was 
tried  before  Mr.  Ballantine,  an  English  magistrate,  as  late  as 
June  loth,  1832.  "A  person  named  Eleanor  Blucher,  a  tall, 
muscular  native  of  Prussia,  was  charged  with  an  assault  upon 
Mary  White.  They  lived  in  the  same  court,  and  Mrs.  White 
having  lost  several  articles  from  her  yard,  suspected  the 
defendant.  She  and  her  neighbors,  after  a  consultation, 
agreed  to  have  recourse  to  the  key  and  Bible  to  discover  the 
thief.  They  placed  the  street  door-key  on  the  fiftieth  Psalm, 
closed  the  book,  and  fastened  it  very  tightly  with  a  garter. 
The  Bible  and  key  were  then  suspended  to  a  nail ;  the 
prisoner's  name  was  repeated  three  times  by  one  of  the  women, 
while  another  recited  the  following  words — 

'  If  it  turns  to  thee  thou  art  the  thief, 
And  we  all  are  free.' 

The  incantation  over,  the  key  turned,  or  the  women  thought 
it  did ;  they  unanimously  agreed  that  Mrs.  Blucher  had  stolen 
two  pairs  of  inexpressibles  belonging  to  Mrs.  White's  husband, 
and  severely  beat  her." 

Visions  of  Destiny. 

A  singular  mode  of  divination  practised  at  the  period  of  the 
harvest  moon  is  thus  described  in  an  old  chap-book:  "When 
you  go  to  bed,  place  under  your  pillow  a  prayer-book,  opened 
at  the  part  of  the  matrimonial  service  'With  this  ring  I  thee 
wed;'  place  on  it  a  key,  a  ring,  a  flower  and  a  sprig  of  willow, 
a  small  heart-cake,  a  crust  of  bread  and  the  following  cards — 


343 

the  ten  of  clubs,  nine  of  hearts,  ace  of  spades  and  the  ace  of 
diamonds.  Wrap  all  these  in  a  thin  handkerchief  of  gauze  or 
muslin,  and  on  getting  into  bed,  cross  your  hands  and  say — 

"  Luna,  every  woman's  friend, 
To  me  thy  goodness  condescend; 
Let  me  this  night  in  visions  see 
Emblems  of  my  destiny." 


Selecting  an  Avocation. 

A  writer  in  "Notes  and  Queries"  mentions  a  species  of 
divination  (sent  him  from  Northamptonshire)  of  the  leading 
events  in  a  man's  life,  or  rather  of  future  employment,  drawn 
from  the  last  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Proverbs.  This  consists 
of  thirty-one  verses,  each  of  which  is  supposed  to  have  a  mysti- 
cal reference  to  each  of  the  corresponding  days  of  the  month. 
Thus,  a  person  born  on  the  i4th  will  be  prognosticated  "to 
get  their  food  from  afar."  This  was  so  fully  believed  in  by 
some,  that  a  boy  was  actually  apprenticed  to  a  /*Vz<f«-draper, 
for  no  other  reason  than  because  he  was  born  on  the  24th  of 
the  month,  the  twenty-fourth  verse  of  the  chapter  mentioning 
"fine  linen." 

Spitting  for  Luck's  Sake. 

Spitting  for  "luck's  sake/'  and  as  a  charm  against  all 
kinds  of  fascinations,  was  regarded  with  importance  by  the 
ancients.  Theocritus  says — 

"  Thrice  on  my  breast  I  spit  to  guard  me  safe 
From  fascinating  charms." 

Among  the  Greeks  it  was  customary  to  spit  three  times  into 
their  bosoms  at  the  sight  of  a  mad  man,  or  one  troubled  with 
an  epilepsy.  Children  were  lustrated  with  spittle  by  their 


344 

nurses  or  relations;  the  old  grandmother,  or  aunt,  moved 
around  in  a  circle,  and  rubbed  the  child's  forehead  with 
spittle,  selecting  her  middle  finger,  to  preserve  it  from  witch- 
craft. Persius  alludes  to  this  custom — 

"  See  how  old  beldams  expiation  make, 
To  atone  the  gods  the  bantling  up  they  take 
His  lips  are  wet  with  lustrous  spittle ;  thus 
They  think  to  make  the  gods  propitious." 

Spitting,  as  an  Irish  luck  superstition,  is  noticed  by  Cam- 
den:  "It  is  by  no  means  allowable  to  praise  a  horse  or  any 
other  animal,  unless  you  say,  '  God  save  him, '  or  spit  upon 
him.  If  any  ill-luck  befalls  the  horse  three  days  after,  they 
hunt  up  the  person  who  praised  him,  that  he  may  whisper  the 
Lord's  prayer  into  the  animal's  right  ear." 

Spitting  for  good  luck  has  still  its  votaries  among  hucksters, 
pedlers  and  others.  The  first  money  received  for  the  day  is 
spat  upon  by  dealers  in  England,  Scotland  and  Roumania. 

A  Yorkshire  custom  to  secure  luck  when  a  rainbow  appeared 
was  marking  a  cross  on  the  ground  and  spitting  on  each  of  its 
four  corners. 

May  Marriages  Unlucky. 

It  is  a  common  notion  that  May  marriages  are  unlucky,  and 
the  superstition  is  as  old  as  the  time  of  Ovid.  An  old  saw 
says,  "The  girls  are  all  stark  naught  that  wed  in  May;"  and 
another  saying  was 

"  From  the  marriages  in  May 
All  the  bairns  die  and  decay." 

An  ancient  proverb,  cited  by  Ray,  says,  "Who  marries 
between  the  sickle  and  the  scythe,  will  never  thrive." 

In  the  rural  districts  of  France  a  marriage  contracted  in 
May  or  August  is  unlucky.  In  the  ' '  Almanach  des  Laboureurs, ' ' 
it  stated  that  a  woman  marrying  in  these  months  will  put  her 


345 

husband  under  a  yoke.     The  superstition  of  the  month  of  May 
being  unlucky  for  marriages  still  prevailed  in  Italy  in  1750. 

Pin  Superstitions. 

It  used  to  be  considered  lucky  for  bridesmaids  to  throw 
away  pins  on  a  wedding-day.  In  Brittany  the  young  girls 
who  visit  the  bridal  chamber  secure  the  pins  used  in  fastening 
the  bride's  dress  for  a  lucky  marriage. 

Randolph,  in  his  "Letters,"  writing  of  the  marriage  of 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots  to  Lord  Darnley,  says  that  when  the 
queen,  after  her  marriage,  went  to  her  chamber  to  change  her 
clothes,  she  suffered  "them  that  stood  by  her,  every  man 
that  could  approach,  to  take  a  pin."  The  Bretons  throw  pins 
into  certain  wells  for  good  luck.  The  following  saying  is 
connected  with  pins — 

"  See  a  pin  and  pick  it  up, 
All  the  day  you  '11  have  good  luck. 
See  a  pin  and  let  it  lie, 
All  the  day  you'll  need  to  cry." 

Superstitions  about  Children. 

A  superstition  used  to  exist  that  a  child  which  did  not  cry 
when  sprinkled  in  baptism  would  not  live  long.  The  same 
would  be  the  case  if  the  children  were  prematurely  wise. 
Shakespeare  puts  this  superstition  into  the  mouth  of 
Richard  III. 

Bulwer  mentions  the  tradition  concerning  children  born 
open-handed,  that  they  will  prove  of  a  bountiful  disposition 
and  frank-handed.  A  character  in  one  of  Dekker's  plays 
says:  "I  am  the  most  wretched  fellow;  surely  some  left- 
handed  priest  christened  me,  I  am  so  unlucky."  The  follow- 
ing charms  for  infancy  are  taken  from  Herrick — 


346 

Bring  the  holy  crust  of  bread, 
Lay  it  underneath  the  head; 
'Tis  a  certain  charm  to  keep 
Hags  away  while  children  sleep. 

Let  the  superstitious  wife 
Near  the  child's  heart  lay  a  knife; 
Point  be  up,  and  haft  be  down, 
(While  she  gossips  in  the  towne); 
This,  'mongst  other  mystic  charms, 
Keeps  the  sleeping  child  from  harmes. 


Digging  for  Water. 

The  divining  rod  is  not  the  only  superstition  connected  with 
the  digging  for  water.  In  the  country  of  the  Damazas,  in 
South  Africa,  before  they  dig,  the  natives  offer  an  arrow,  or  a 
piece  of  skin  or  flesh,  to  a  large  red  man  with  a  white  beard, 
who  is  supposed  to  inhabit  the  place ;  at  the  same  time  they 
repeat  a  prayer  for  success  in  finding  water.  To  dig  for  it 
without  this  ceremony,  they  say,  occasions  sickness  and  death. 


Wolf  Superstition. 

In  Normandy  a  phantom  in  the  form  of  a  wolf  is  believed 
to  wander  about  at  night  amongst  the  graves.  The  chief  of 
the  band  of  phantoms  is  a  large  black  wolf,  who,  when  ap- 
proached, rises  on  his  hind  legs  and  begins  to  howl,  when  the 
whole  party  disappear,  shrieking  out,  "Robert  is  dead! 
Robert  is  dead  !" — Nimmo. 


Stanching  Blood. 

The  ancients  firmly  believed  that  blood  could  be  stanched 
by  charms.     The  bleeding  of  Ulysses  is  reputed  to  have  been 


347 


stopped  by  this  means ;  and  Cato  the  Censor  has  given  us  an 
incantation  for  setting  dislocated  bones.  To  this  day  charms 
are  supposed  to  arrest  the  flow  of  blood. 

"  Tom  Potts  was  but  a  serving  man, 

But  yet  he  was  a  doctor  good ; 
He  bound  his  kerchief  on  the  wound, 

And  with  some  kind  word  he  stanched  the  blood."  » 

Sir  Walter  Scott  says,  in  the  "Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel " — 

"  She  drew  the  splinter  from  the  wound, 
And  with  a  charm  she  stanch' d  the  blood." 


Arab  Charms. 

The  Arabs  have  many  family  nostrums,  and  are  implicit 
believers  in  the  efficacy  of  charms  and  mystic  arts.  No  species 
of  knowledge  is  more  highly  venerated  than  that  of  the  occult 
sciences,  which  afford  maintenance  to  a  vast  number  of  quacks 
and  impudent  pretenders.  The  science  of  Isen-Allah  (or 
Name  of  God)  enables  the  possessor  to  discover  what  is  pass- 
ing in  his  absence,  to  expel  evil  spirits,  cure  diseases,  and 
dispose  of  the  wind  and  seasons  as  he  chooses.  Those  who 
have  advanced  far  in  this  study  pretend  to  calm  tempests  at 
sea  by  the  rules  of  art,  or  say  their  prayers  at  noon  in  Mecca, 
without  stirring  from  their  own  houses  in  Bagdad !  The 
Kurra  is  the  art  of  composing  billets  or  amulets  which  secure 
the  wearer  from  the  power  of  enchantments  and  all  sorts  of 
accidents.  They  are  also  employed  to  give  cattle  an  appetite 
for  food  and  clear  houses  from  flies  and  other  vermin. 

Superstitions  among  the  Bretons. 

In  the  district  of  Carhaix  is  a  mountain  called  St.  Michael, 
whither  it  is  believed  all  demons  cast  from  the  bodies  of  men 


348 

arc  banished.  If  any  one  sets  his  foot  at  night  within  the 
circle  they  inhabit,  he  begins  to  run,  and  will  never  be  able  to 
cease  all  the  rest  of  the  night. 

In  one  of  the  districts  is  a  fountain  called  Krignac.  To 
drink  three  nights  successively  of  this  at  midnight  is  an  infall- 
ible cure  for  intermittent  fever.  In  other  districts  there  are 
fountains  into  which,  if  a  child's  shirt  or  shift  be  thrown,  and 
it  sinks,  the  child  will  die  within  a  year.  If  it  should  swim, 
it  is  then  put  wet  on  the  child,  and  is  a  charm  against  all 
kinds  of  diseases. 

The  Ar  cannercz  nos  are  ghostly  "wash-women,"  who  ply 
their  trade  at  night,  washing  their  linen  while  they  sing  quaint 
bid  ballads.  They  solicit  the  assistance  of  people  passing  by 
to  wring  the  linen.  If  the  assistance  be  given  awkwardly, 
they  break  the  person's  arm;  if  it  be  refused,  they  pull  the 
'•' refusers"  into  the  stream  and  drown  them. 

Blessing  of  Beasts. 

On  St.  Anthony's  day  the  beasts  at  Rome  were  blessed 
and  sprinkled  with  holy  water.  Lady  Morgan  says  that  the 
annual  benediction  of  the  beasts  at  Rome,  at  a  church  dedi- 
cated to  St.  Anthony,  lasts  for  some  days:  "For  not  only 
every  Roman,  who  has  a  horse,  a  mule  or  an  ass,  sends  his 
cattle  to  be  blessed  at  St.  Anthony's  shrine,  but  all  the  Eng- 
lish go  with  their  job  horses  and  favorite  dogs;  and  for  the 
small  offering  of  a  couple  of  paoli,  get  them  sprinkled,  sancti- 
fied and  placed  under  the  protection  of  this  saint.  Coach 
after  coach  draws  up,  strings  of  mules  mix  with  carts  and 
barouches,  horses  kick,  mules  are  restive,  dogs  snarl,  while 
the  officiating  priest  comes  forward  from  his  little  chapel,  dips 
a  brush  into  a  vase  of  holy  water,  sprinkles  and  prays  over  the 
beasts,  pockets  the  fee,  and  retires. ' '  Dr.  Conyers  Middleton 
says,  that  when  he  was  at  Rome  he  had  his  own  horses  bles* 


349 

for  eighteen  pence,  as  well  to  satisfy  his  curiosity  as  to  humor 
his  coachman,  who  was  persuaded  that  some  mischance  would 
befall  them  during  the  year,  if  they  had  not  the  benefit  of  the 
benediction. 

Moles. 

In  "The  Husbandman's  Practice;  or,  Prognostication 
Forever,"  1658,  there  is  much  to  show  what  moles  on  various 
parts  of  the  body  denote.  For  example:  If  a  man  have  a 
mole  on  the  place  right  against  the  heart,  it  denotes  him  to 
be  undoubtedly  wicked.  If  a  mole  in  either  man  or  woman 
appear  on  the  place  right  against  the  spleen,  it  signifies  that 
he  or  she  shall  be  "much  passionated  and  oftentimes  sick." 
In  "A  Thousand  Notable  Things,"  we  find  that  moles  on  the 
arm  and  shoulder  denote  great  wisdom;  on  the  left,  debate 
and  contention.  Moles  near  the  armpit  signify  riches  and 
honor.  A  mole  on  the  neck  is  commonly  a  sign  that  there  it 
another  near  the  stomach,  which  denotes  strength.  A  mole 
on  the  neck  and  throat  denotes  riches  and  health;  a  mole  on 
the  chin,  that  there  is  another  near  the  heart,  and  signifies 
riches.  A  mole  on  the  right  side  of  the  forehead  is  a  sign  of 
great  riches  both  to  men  and  women ;  on  the  left  side,  quite 
the  contrary.  Moles  on  the  right  ear  denote  riches  and 
honor ;  on  the  left  ear  they  signify  the  reverse. 


Whipping  Toads  to  Produce  Rain. 

At  one  time  the  natives  of  Venezuela  worshipped  toads. 
They  regarded  the  toad  as  "the  lord  of  the  waters,"  and 
treated  it  with  much  reverence;  though,  as  has  been  the 
case  with  other  idolaters,  they  were  ready,  in  times  of  diffi- 
culty, to  compel  favorable  hearing  from  their  pretended 
deities.  They  whipped  their  imprisoned  toads  with  little 


350 

switches  when  there  was  a  scarcity  of  provisions  and  a  want 
of  rain. 

The  First  Butterfly. 

A  superstition  prevails  in  Devonshire,  England,  that  any 
individual  neglecting  to  kill  the  first  butterfly  he  may  see  for 
the  season,  will  have  ill-luck  throughout  the  year. 


Child-Stealing  Elves. 

According  to  Irish  as  well  as  Scottish  fairy  superstitions,  the 
elves,  though  in  the  main  harmless,  or  at  most  tricky,  have 
the  bad  reputation  of  stealing  children  from  the  cradle  and 
substituting  for  them  a  changeling  who  bears  a  resemblance  to 
the  stolen  infant,  but  is  an  ugly  little  creature,  and  never 
thrives.  On  such  a  theft  of  a  female  infant,  who  is  carried  to 
Fairyland,  but  in  the  course  of  years  returns  to  her  parents, 
James  Hogg  founded  his  fine  ballad  of  "Kilmeny  "  (Queen's 
Wake). 


INDEX. 


Abelard  and  Heloise,  29. 
Abraham  and  Sarah,  229. 
Absurdities  of  the  toilet,  160. 
Abydos,  bride  of,  25. 
Abysynnian  tradition,  213. 
Accidental  rhymes,  43. 
Acid,  citric,  136. 
Aconite,  301. 
Acrobatic  figures,  202. 
Adding  insult  to  injury,  179. 
Advertisements,  slave,  27. 
Africa,  ordeals  in,  308. 
African  rain  doctors,  152. 
Africa,  twins  in,  197. 
Ague,  charm  for  the,  337. 
Albatross,  265. 

Albertus  Magnus,  recipes  from,  74. 
Alliterations  carried  to  an  absurd 

excess,  21. 

Alliterative  whims,  21. 
Alligators  swallowing  stones,  282. 
Almanacs,  prophetic,  17. 
Amulets,  amethyst,  337. 

Arsenic  as  an,  339. 

Inserted  under  the  skin,  315. 

Kingfisher,  264. 

Owl's  claws,  340. 

St.  Helena  coins,  328. 

Unicorn's  horn,  319. 
Amusements  of  some  learned  men, 

14. 

Anachronisms,  noted,  27. 
Anchors,  sacred,  179. 
Ancient  bit  of  waggery,  191. 

Dials,  86. 

Lottery,  64. 

Practice  of  medicine,  337. 

Smokers,  181. 

Animals  forecasting  danger,  282. 
Antiquity  of  acrobatic  figures,  202. 

Curious  piece  of,  on  the  Cruci- 
fixion of  the  Saviour  50. 

Of  riddles,  63. 

Of  tarring  and  feathering,  183. 
Anne  Boleyn's  gloves,  179. 
Antipathies,  239. 

m 


Antipathy  to  red  hair,  72. 
Apes,  cynocephalic,  278. 
Apothecary  shop,  walking,  192. 
Apparition,  Dr.  Donne's,  245. 

Double,  241. 

Twofold,  244. 
Appetite,  innate,  290. 
Arab  charms,  347. 
Arabian  horses'  pedigree,  284. 
Arabia,  the  turban  in,  159. 
Arctic  music,  queer,  174. 
Articles  of  ringing,  126. 
Artificial  limb,  first,  198. 
Artist's  tradition,  232. 
Asleep,  kissed  while,  237. 
Aspen,  shaking,  302. 
Assuming  the  form  of  a  bird,  248. 
Assassination,  horrible  mode  of,  293 
Astonished  lawyer,  70. 
Astrologer,  cunning,  156. 
Astronomical  clock,  famous,  81. 
Asylum  for  destitute  cats,  163. 
Atlas,  kneeling  statue  of,  109. 
Attar  of  roses,  origin  of,  215. 
Auk,  great,  264. 
Automata,  wonderful,  104. 
Avocation,  selecting  an,  343. 

Babes  in  the  wood,  65. 

Babes  of  Bethlehem,  122. 

Bagging  his  rival,  190. 

Baker's  dozen,  217. 

Ballad,  oldest,  40. 

Bantam,  warlike,  201. 

Barbers'  basins,  210. 

Barbers,  offending,  77. 

Barking  of  dogs,  274. 

Barnacles,  333. 

Barometer,  spider,  291. 

Barometer,  stone,  157. 

Bath,    how   the   prophecy    of  its 

destruction  came  about,  66. 
Bat,  muscular  strength  of  the,  289. 
Beads,  St.  Cuthbert's,  193. 
Bear,  shaved,  277. 
Beard,  care  of  the,  214. 


354 


Beards  at  communion,  62. 

Beards,  gilt,  9. 

Beasts,  blessing  of,  348. 

Bed,  looking  for  the  head  of  the,  283. 

Bedford  Missal,  14. 

Bees,  superstitions  about,  239. 

Bees,  wonderful  exhibition  with, 

217. 

Before  houses  were  numbered,  180. 
Bells,  articles  of  ringing,  126. 

Born    within    the    sound    of 
Bow,  61. 

Coral  and,  190. 

Of  Jersey,  120. 

Subterranean  Christmas,  120. 
Bell,  great  of  Rouen,  110. 

Great  Tom  of  Lincoln,  118. 

Inscriptions,  122. 

Mammoth,  of  Buddah,  119. 

Passing,  121. 

Hinging  the  changes,  122. 

Hinging  in  Holland,  122. 

St.  Fillan's,  119. 

St.  Sepulchre's,  121. 
Belladonna  lily,  305. 
Benefactor,  the  devil  regarded  as  a, 

227. 

Bernini's  bust  of  Charles  I,  102. 
Bible  and  key,  divination  by,  342. 

Bug,  8. 

Curious     parallel     between 
Shakespeare  and  the,  32. 

Eliot's  Indian,  12. 

Gilt  beards,  9. 

Illuminated  MS.,  8. 

Interesting  MSS.,  10. 

Magnificent  Latin,  10. 

Mazarine,  9. 

Printed  in  gold  letters,  10. 

Vinegar,  11. 

Wierix's,  9. 
Bill,  curious  play,  32. 

Of  particulars,  36. 

Of  repairs,  odd,  63. 
Birds,  Albatross,  265. 

A  little  bird  told  me,  66. 

Assuming  the  form  of,  248. 

Auk,  great,  264. 

Bantam,  warlike,  201. 

Bittern,  251. 

Blackbird  originally  white,  253. 

Bullfinch,  272. 

Burree  Churree,  251. 

Chaffinch  contest,  269 


Change  of  sight  in,  273. 

Cranes,  251,  263. 

Crossbill,  251. 

Crows  lost  in  a  fog,  267. 

Cuckoo,  255. 

Cuckoo,    why   she   builds   no 
nest,  257. 

Dodo,  268. 

Dove,  253. 

Dove,  double-headed,  259. 

Dove,  harbinger  of  good  news, 
254. 

Ears  of  birds   not  to  be  de- 
ceived, 272. 

Introducing  a  soul  into  a,  249. 

Flamingo,  nest  of  the,  274. 

Gander,  an  old,  269. 

Gander,  led  by  a,  267. 

Hammock,  272. 

Kingfisher,  264. 

Imprisoned  during  incubation, 
271. 

Love,  271. 

Lark,  252. 

Magpie,  257. 

Magpie,  half  a  nest,  257. 

Magpie  stoning  a  toad,  278. 

Nightingale,  252. 

Night  owls,  271. 

Ostrich,  252. 

Owl,  269. 

Owl's  claws,  340. 

Paradise,  259. 

Peacock  at  home,  268. 

Peacock  crests,  263. 

Pelican,  270. 

Penguin  breeding-grounds,  271. 

Penguin's  solitary  egg,  263. 

Phoenix,  260. 

Plover,  263. 

Prognosticating  death,  250. 

Baven,  250. 

Robin,  killing  a,  254. 

Roc,  270. 

Sagacity  of  a  bird,  273. 

Stork,  265. 

Swallow,  258. 

Swallow    drinks    the    king's 
health,  258. 

Talismanic  stones  in,  249. 

Titmouse,  272. 

White-breasted,  262. 

Wren,  261. 
Bird  hammock,  272. 


355 


Birthdays,  62. 
Birthdays,  luck  of,  336. 
Birthday,  St.  Patrick's,  234. 
Bittern,  251. 

Bitterness  of  strychnia,  303. 
Blackbirds  originally  white,  253. 
Black  stone  of  Mecca,  92. 
Bleeding  for  nothing,  70. 
Blessing  beasts,  348. 
Blossoming,  thirty  years  in,  305. 
Blood,  curse  of  innocent,  228. 

Of  the  martyrs,  338. 

Showers  of,  299. 

Stanching,  346. 
Blue  Beard,  151. 
Blunders,  Dr.  Johnson's,  22. 

Of  painters,  23. 

Thackeray's  geographical,  23. 
Boards,  groaning,  212. 
Boast,  Richelieu's,  79. 
Bodach  glas,  240. 
Bogus  dragon,  68. 
Book-keeping  in  Norway,  75. 
Book-shaped  watch,  87. 
Books — Huge  copy  of  the  Koran, 
12. 

Imperishable  prison  literature, 
16. 

Library,  King  of  India's,  19. 

Library,  unique,  13. 

Long  lost  book  recovered,  8. 

Lost  book,  13. 

Lord  Kingsborough's  Mexico, 
15. 

Missal,  Bedford,  14. 

Most    curious    book    in    the 
world,  7. 

New  England  primer,  14. 

Odd  titles  of  old  books,  29. 

Printed  in  gold  letters,  10. 

Prophetic  almanacs,  17. 

Puffing  their  own  books,  16. 

Queen  Elizabeth's  "OoneGos- 
pell  Book,"  11. 

Remarkable  instance  of  perse- 
verance, 27. 

Riddles,  13. 

Sibylline  books,  16. 

Silver  book,  12. 

Swearing  on  the  book,  172. 

Title  pages  that  mislead,  31. 

Without  words,  9. 

With  unpronounceable  names, 
7. 


Book  worms,  291. 

Boone's  spelling,  33. 

Boots  an  object  of  honor,  193. 

Born  of  a  Peri,  214. 

Born  within  sound  of  Bow  Bells,  61. 

Borrowed  days,  209. 

Borrowing  watches,  88. 

Bottle,  mammoth,  109. 

Brass  medal  of  the  Saviour,  94. 

Breaking  a  piece  of  money,  314. 

Bricks,  durability  of,  208. 

Brick,  he's  a,  76. 

Bride  of  Abydos,  25. 

Buddah,  mammoth  bell  of,  119. 

Buffalo's  skull,  322. 

Bug  Bible,  8. 

Burial  customs,  singular,  236. 

Burned  wastes  replenished,  311. 

Burree  churree,  251. 

Burn's  snuff-box,  103. 

Butterfly,  first,  350. 

Butterfly,  leaf,  of  Java,  290. 

Butter,  perfumed,  194. 

Buttons,  none  but  brass,  73. 

Buying  and  selling,  220. 

Cabinet,  immense  Zoological,  298. 
Cader  Idris  couch,  216. 
Caesar's  wife  must  be  above  sus- 
picion, 43. 
Camel  as  a  scape-goat,  275. 

Kicked  by  a,  281. 

Superstition  about  the,  284. 
Can    a   clergyman   marry    him- 
self? 211. 

Can  dogs  count?  279. 
Can  hens  count  ?  280. 
Candle  clock,  196. 
Canes,  gold-headed,  for  physicians, 

207. 

Canute,  the  great,  154. 
Captain  Kidd's  vision,  242. 
Carara's  toilet  box,  100. 
Care  of  the  beard,  214 
Carmelite  friar's  poem,  31. 
Carrying  coals  to  Newcastle,  170. 
Cashing  lottery  prizes,  63. 
Cats,  asylum  for  destitute,  163. 
Cats  with  knotted  tails,  287, 
Cat  clock,  84. 

Concert,  173. 

Worship,  286. 

Whittington  and  his,  153. 
Caterpillar,  muscles  of  the,  292. 


366 


Canl,  312. 

Cavern  chapel,  219. 
Cavern,  St.  George's,  165. 
Certificates  of  Gretna  Green  mar- 
riages, 41. 

Chaffinch  contest,  269. 
Changing  colors  in  a  dying  mullet, 

298. 

Changes,  ringing  the,  122. 
Changes  in  signification,  40. 
Change  in  the  sight  of  birds,  273. 
Chank  shell,  298. 
Charms,  dogs,  332. 

Arabian,  347. 

Ague,  337. 

Bread,  331. 

Burns,  321. 

Butter,  331. 

Cramp,  336. 

Love,  314. 

Molar  tooth,  338. 

Thorn,  321. 

Scattering  water,  332. 

Sundry  rural,  331. 

Witchcraft,  320. 
Charlatans,  prince  of,  206. 
Charlemagne,  talisman  of,  91. 
Charlemagne,  clock  presented  to,  85. 
Charter,  rhyming,  42. 
Chateaubrun's    escape    from    the 

guillotine,  204. 
Chaunt,  oyster  dredging,  201. 
Chewing  rice,  ordeal  of,  309. 
Children's  day  in  Japan,  195. 
Children,  superstitions  about,  345. 
Child  played  for,  65. 
Child-stealing  elves,  350. 
Chinese  giants,  162. 

Medical  prescriptions,  182. 

Oaths,  172. 

Veneration  for  the  lily,  311. 
Chronological  table  of  remarkable 

events,  47, 

Christmas  bells,  subterranean,  120. 
Citric  acid,  136. 
Claws,  owl's,  340. 
Clergymen,  duels  fought  by,  71. 
Cleopatra  a  myth,  28. 
Clock,  astronomical,  famous,  81. 

Candle,  196. 

Cat,  84. 

Earliest,  80. 

Harrison's,  84. 

Presented  to  Charlemagne,  85. 


That  strikes  thirteen,  82. 

Vocal,  83. 

Westminster,  82. 

Wonderful,  83. 
Clouds,  eating,  293. 
Clover,  four-leaved,  303. 
Coals,  carrying  to  Newcastle,  170. 
Cobblers'  stalls  in  Eome,  178. 
Cock-crower,  king's,  188. 

Crowing  an  omen  of  victory, 
319. 

Fighting  among  the  ancients, 
195. 

And  Hen,  266. 
Coffins,  hour-glasses  in,  220. 
Coincidence,  singular,  71. 

Crooked,  25. 

Curious  historical,  61. 
Coins,  St.  Helena,  328. 
Cold  water,  ordeal  of,  309. 
Colors  most  frequently  hit  in  bat- 
tle, 1%. 

Of  the  hat  for  cardinals,  173. 

Isabella,  138. 

Parisian  scarlet,  139. 

Tyrian  purple,  139. 
Colossal  shells,  297. 
Composition  during  sleep,  36 
Composition  of  rollers  discovered, 

133. 

Confectionery  decorations,  69. 
Copied  from  nature,  303. 
Copy  of  the  Koran,  huge,  12. 
Copy  of  a  letter  written  by  Car- 
dinal Richelieu,  61. 
Coral  and  bells,  190. 
Cork  jackets,  142. 
Coronations,  feasts  at,  217. 
Couch,  Cader  Idris,  216. 
Court  fools,  155. 

Courtship    of    William   the   Con- 
queror, 155. 
Crabs,  pea,  288. 
Cramp  rings,  313. 
Cramp,  charm  for,  335. 
Cranes,  worshipful,  263. 
Crests,  peacock's,  263. 
Crickets,  house,  330. 
Crinoline  in  1744,  157 
Critic,  stupid,  24. 
Crocodiles  of  the  Nile,  282. 
Crocodile  plover,  263. 
Crooked  coincidences,  26. 
Crossbill,  251. 


357 


Cross-legged,  sitting,  330. 
Cross,  hymn  in  the  form  of  a,  49. 

Macduffs,  221. 

Mark  of,  on  the  ass,  276. 

Ordeal  of  the,  307. 

Signature  of  the,  79. 
Crows  lost  in  a  fog,  267. 
Crucifix  of  Columbus,  96. 
Crucifixion,   curious  piece   of  an- 
tiquity on  the,  50. 
Cruciform  watch,  88. 
Cuckoo,  255. 

Cuckoo,  why  she  builds  no  nest,  257. 
Cunning  astrologer,  156. 
Cures,  magnetic,  230. 
Curious  epitaphs,  110. 

Custom  in  Strasburg,  59. 

Historical  coincidence,  61. 

Lantern,  100. 

Law,  60. 

Locality  for  saying  prayers,  169. 

Parallel,  80. 

Play  bill,  32. 

Post-office,  76. 

Old  memorandum,  38. 

Oranges,  304. 

Time-piece,  85. 

Signs  in  New  York,  74. 

Wagers,  184. 
Curse  of  Scotland,  227. 
Curse  of  innocent  blood,  228. 
Cuttle-fish,  eyes  of  the,  290. 
Customs,  Hallow  E'en,  232. 
Cutting  off  the  fiddler's  head,  236. 
Cutting  timber  by  the  moon,  213. 
Cynocephalic  apes,  278. 

Dance,  gipsy,  181. 

Danger,  animals  forecasting,  282. 

Dai  r us,  tomb  of,  106. 

Day,  first  sale  of  the,  338. 

Dead  drunk  for  twopence,  66. 

Body,  odd  way  of  discovering, 
334. 

Monkeys  demanding  their,  279. 
Dean  Swift's  marriage  ceremony, 

67. 

Death  warrant  of  the  Saviour,  45. 
Death  watch,  230. 
Decapitation  by  the  guillotine,  204. 
Deepened  damnation,  191. 
Delicate  machinery,  86. 
Destiny,  visions  of,  342. 
Deutsche  luft,  143. 


Devil  regarded  as  a  benefactor,  227. 
Dials,  ancient,  86. 
Dialect  rhyme,  26. 
Diamonds,  veneered,  141. 
Diamond,  queer  place  to  secrete  a, 

222. 

Diaries,  17. 

Digestive  powers,  great,  289. 
Digging  for  water,  346. 
Dinner  time,  royal,  318. 
Dinner,  getting  outside  of  his,  284. 
Diogenes  and  his  tub,  27. 
Dipping  the  left  shirt  sleeve,  233. 
Discovery  of  the  body  of  Canute, 
154. 

Of  glass,  134. 

Of  composition  rollers,  133. 
Disfigurement,  fashionable,  187. 
Divination  by  Bible  and  key,  342. 
Divinity,  queer  evidence  of,  182. 
Divining  rods,  316. 
Doctor,  African  rain,  152. 

Donne's  apparition,  245. 

Johnson's  blunders,  22. 
Dodo,  story  of  the,  268. 
Dogs,  barking  of,  274. 

Charm  against,  332. 

Can  they  count  ?  279. 
Donation  to  a  fair,  69. 
Don  Quixote's  sheep,  40. 
Double-entendre,  39. 
Double  apparition,  241. 
Dove,  253. 

Double-headed,  254. 

A  harbinger  of  good  news,  254. 
Dragon,  bogus,  68. 
Drawing  cabbages  blind- folded,233. 
Dream,  Lord  Bacon's,  246. 
Dreams,  remedy  for  bad,  225. 
Dresses  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  160. 
Drinking  glass  a  yard  long,  109. 
Drop  letter  retort,  67. 
Druid's  seat,  110. 
Drum  made  of  human  skin,  212. 
Drunk  for  twopence,  66. 
Duels  fought  by  clergymen,  71. 
Durability  of  bricks,  208. 

Earliest  clocks,  80. 
Earliest  traders,  197. 
Earthquake,  swallowed  by  an,  175. 
Ear  of  birds  not  to  be  deceived,  272. 
Ears  of  the  elephant,  277. 
Earwig,  289. 


358 


Easter  box,  238. 

Eating  animals  that  have  died  a 
natural  death,  193. 

Clouds,  293. 

Tea,  208. 

For  a  wager,  184. 
Eccentricity,  Kant's,  44. 
Eccentric  will,  59. 
Echoes,  remarkable,  166 
Echo  verse,  78. 
Eden  Hall,  luck  of,  101. 
Edict  against  fiddlers,  58. 
Edifices  of  the  Polypi,  299. 
Effect  of  a  new  nose,  215. 
Efficacy  in  a  mutilated  saint,  216. 
Egg  mistaken  for  a  pearl,  170. 
Egg,  penguin's  solitary,  262. 
Eggs,  superstition  about,  274. 
Egyptian  perfumes,  203. 
Egyptian  physicians,  169. 
Electioneering  in  1640,  62. 
Elephants'  ears,  277. 
Elephants,  tenacity  of  life  in,  276. 
Elephants,  white,  276. 
Eliot's  Indian  Bible,  12. 
Elves,  child-stealing,  350. 
Embalmed  in  honey,  194. 
Eminent  men,  foppery  in,  159. 
Epitaphs,  curious,  110. 
Escape  from  the  guillotine,  204. 
Essence  of  pearl,  134. 
Esteem,  inordinate  self-,  76. 
Etching  upon  glass,  136. 
Eucharist,  ordeal  of  the,  308. 
Eve,  St.  Agnes,  234. 
Evidences  of  divinity,  queer,  182. 
Executioner's  sword,  101. 
Expenses  of  Charles  II.,  private,  53. 
Exterminating  vermin,  327. 
Extraordinary  muscular  strength 

of  the  bat,  289. 
Eye-brows,  mole-skin,  189. 
Eye,  evil,  in  Spain,  320. 
Eyes  of  the  cuttle-fish,  290. 

Fable  of  the  pelican,  270. 

Fabulous  roc,  270. 

Fair,  donation  to  a,  69. 

Fairy  treasure,  220. 

False  conclusion,  52. 

Famous  astronomical  clock,  81. 

Famine,  singular  provision  against, 

283. 
Farthing,  half-penny  and,  170. 


Farthing,  Queen  Anne's,  177. 
Fashionable  disfigurement,  187. 
Fatal  day  to  the  royal  family  of 

England,  57. 
Feasts  at  coronations,  217. 

Gluttony  of  the  monks,  181. 

Mammoth,  181. 

Skeletons  at,  183. 
Feathers  for  the  ladies,  176. 
Feathers,  house  of  hen's,  164. 
Feat,  manufacturing,  175. 
Felling  oaks,  246. 
Few  fish  found  at  sea,  199. 
Fiddlers,  edict  against,  58. 
Fiddler's  head,  cutting  off  the,  236. 
Fiddling  to  some  purpose,  137. 
Figures,  acrobatic,  202. 
Fillan's  bell,  St.,  119. 
Fineness  of  India  muslins,  174. 
Fine  for  insulting  a  king,  187. 
Fire,  ordeal  by,  309. 
First  artificial  limb,  198. 

Brick  house  in  Philadelphia,  54. 

Butterfly,  350. 

Hermits,  98. 

Meerschaum  pipe,  130. 

Museums,  107. 

New-laid  egg,  274. 

Opera,  198. 

Oval  lathe,  131. 

Sale  for  the  day,  338. 
Fish,  cuttle,  290. 

Few  found  at  sea,  199. 

Fighting,  295. 

Market  at  Scarborough,  198. 

Mullet,  298. 

Queer  legend  about,  296. 
Fisherman's  luck,  335. 
Flea,  jump  of  a,  291. 
Fleas,  remedy  for,  256. 
Flamingo,  nest  of  the,  274. 
Flower,  passion,  311. 
Flower  pots,  toppling,  62. 
Fly,  persistent,  292. 
Following  his  nose,  133. 
Foppery  in  eminent  men,  159. 
Food,  yearly,  of  one  man,  207. 
Fog,  crows  lost  in  a,  267. 
Fools,  court,  155. 
Force  of  imagination,  224. 
Four-leaved  clover,  303. 
Freckles,  May  dew  a  remedy  for, 

231. 
Freischutz,  168. 


359 


Friar  Bacon's  brazen  head,  96. 
Fungus,  vegetable,  306. 

Gall  insect,  294. 
Gambling  for  fingers,  160. 
Gander,  an  old,  269. 
Gander,  led  by  a,  267. 
Gems,  196. 

Geranium,  superstition  about,  302. 
German  silver,  138. 
Getting  himself  outside  of  his  din- 
ner, 284. 

Giants,  Chinese,  162. 
Gifts,  mystic,  327. 
Gilt  beards,  9. 
Gipsy  dance,  181. 
Gipsy  reticence,  170. 
Glas,  Bodach,  240. 
Glass,  discovery  of,  134. 

Drinking,  a  yard  long,  109. 

Etching  upon,  136. 
Glasses,  hour,  in  coffins,  220. 
Glastonbury  thorn,  219. 
Gloves,  Anne  Boleyn's,  179. 
Gloves,  winning  a  pair  of,  237. 
Gluttony  of  the  monks,  181. 
Gods,  moving,  167. 
Gold-headed  canes  for  physicians, 

207. 

Gold  letters,  printed  in,  10. 
Golden  tooth,  226. 
Good  tenant,  209. 
Grace  knives,  108. 
Grandiloquent  outbursts,  25. 
Grave  of  Robin  Hood,  118. 
Great  auk,  264. 

Bell  of  Rouen,  119. 

Digestive  powers,  289. 

Hero  of  the  Bretons,  144. 

Tom  of  Lincoln,  118. 
Gretna  Green  marriages,  41. 
Grimaldi's  death,  244. 
Grinning  for  a  wager,  183. 
Groaning  boards,  212. 
Guide  posts,  pious,  68. 
Guillotine,  decapitation  by  the,  204. 
Guillotine,  escape  from  the,  204. 

Haarlem,  sea-woman  of,  150. 
Hair  cutting  in  Russia,  183. 

Care  of  the  beard,  214. 

Human,  208. 

Red,  ancient  antipathy  to,  72. 
Hallow  E'en  customs,  232. 


Half-penny  and  farthing,  170. 
Half-starved  tramp,  137. 
Halls,  spacious,  171. 
Hammock,  bird,  272. 
Handkerchiefs,  love,  185. 
Harrison's  clock,  84. 
Hat,  color  of,  for  cardinals,  173. 
Hats,  paradise  of  old,  205. 
Head  dresses,  pagoda-shaped,  157. 

Fiddler's,  cutting  off  the,  236. 

Friar  Bacon's  brazen,  96. 

James  IV.  of  Scotland,  153. 

Orpheus,  104. 

Of  the  bed,  looking  for  the,  283. 
Healing  by  the  king,  232 
Hell-stones,  226. 
Hens,  can  they  count?  280. 
Hens,  cocks  and,  266. 
Hermits,  first,  198. 
Hero  of  the  Bretons,  144. 
High-sounding  prologue,  34. 
Hinder  well-spout  unlucky,  247. 
Hindostan,  trying  land  titles  in, 

163. 

Hindoo  oaths,  57. 
Hindoo  vow,  singular,  231. 
Holland,  bell- ringing  in,  122. 
Honey,  embalmed  in,  194. 
Hood,  Robin,  grave  of,  118. 
Honor,  boots  an  object  of,  193. 
Honoring  the  lark,  252. 
Horn  of  Oldenburg,  98. 
Horn,  unicorn,  319. 
Horrible  mode  of  assassination,  295. 
Horses,  Arabian,  pedigree  of,  284. 

Curing  vicious,  211. 

Feeding  one  another,  286. 

Witch- ridden,  340. 
Horse-shoes,  314. 
Hour  glasses  in  coffins,  220. 
House,brick,firstinPhiladelphia,54 

Carried  on  his  head,  176. 

Crickets,  330. 

Leek,  307. 

Of  hen's  feathers,  164. 
Houses,  before  numbered,  180. 
Household  rules  in  th«  sixteenth 

century,  56. 
How  the  ancients  rewarded  inven. 

tors,  143. 
How  the  Chinese  select  a  pastor, 

238. 

How  the  prophesy  of  the  destruc-' 
tion  of  Bath  came  about,  66. 


360 


How  rats  and  mice  use  their  tails, 

280. 

Huge  copy  of  the  Koran,  12. 
Human  hair,  208. 
Human  skin,  drum  made  out  of, 

212. 

Hundred  families'  lock,  188. 
Hundred  stomachs,  293. 
Hundred  years  too  soon,  55. 
Hungary  water,  141. 
Hymn  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  49. 

Illuminated  manuscript  Bible,  8 

Imprisoned  during  incubation,  270. 

Imperishable  prison  literature,  16. 

Imagination,  force  of,  224. 

Immense  value  placed  upon  gems 
by  the  ancients,  196. 

Immense  zoological  cabinet,  298. 

Incredible  liars,  223. 

India,  library  of  the  king  of,  19. 

India,  muslins,  fineness  of,  174. 

Indian  Bible,  Eliot's,  12. 

Inducements  to  subscribers,  34. 

Infamous  nankeen,  75. 

Ingenuity,  literary,  18. 

Injury,  adding  insult  to,  179. 

Ink,  river  of,  200. 

Innate  appetite,  290. 

Innocent  blood,  curse  of,  228. 

Inordinate  self-esteem,  76. 

Inscriptions  on  "bells,  122. 

In  search  of  a  looking  glasn,  70. 

In  search  of  a  rhyme,  26. 

Insects,  phosphorescent,  292. 

Instance  of  remarkable  perse- 
verance, 21. 

Instance  of  sympathy,  strange,  241. 

Interesting  manuscript  Bible,  10. 

Introducing  a  soul  into  a  bird,  249. 

Inventor,  legend  of,  228. 

Inventors,  how  the  ancients  re- 
warded, 143. 

Iron  crown  of  Lombardy,  99. 

Isabella  color,  138. 

Island,  supposed  to  be  a  genuine,  18. 

Isaiah,  martyrdom  of,  154. 

Isthmus  of  Panama  suggested  three 
hundred  years  ago,  52. 

Japan,  children's  day  in,  195. 
Java,  leaf-butterfly  of,  290. 
Java,  tree-planting  in  302. 
Jericho,  rose  of,  303. 


Jersey,  bells  of,  120. 
Jew,  wandering,  145. 
John  O'Gaunt's  will,  58. 
Judas  Iscariot,  legend  of,  151. 
Judy,  Punch  and,  in  1669,  77. 
Jumping  jack,  185. 
Jump  of  a  flea,  291. 

Kant's  eccentricity,  44. 
Kicked  by  a  camel,  281. 
Killing  a  robin,  254. 
King,  fine  for  insulting  a,  187. 

Fisher,  264. 

Healing  by  the,  232. 

Of  India's  library,  19. 
King's  cock-crower,  188. 
King'shealth,  aswallowdrinksthe, 

258. 

Kircher's  speaking  trumpet,  198. 
Kissed  while  asleep,  237. 
Kneeling  statue  of  Atlas,  109. 
Knives,  grace,  108. 
Knotted  taijs,  cats  with,  287. 
Knot,  true-lover's,  187. 
Koran,  huge  copy  of  the,  12. 

Ladies,  feathers  for  the,  176. 

Lantern,  curious,  100. 

Lark,  honoring  the,  252. 

Lathe,  oval,  131. 

Latin  Bible,  magnificent,  10. 

Lawyer,  astonished,  70. 

Law,  curious,  60. 

Lead  pencils,  no  lead  in,  177. 

Leaf-butterfly  of  Java,  290. 

Led  by  a  gander,  267. 

Legend,  fish,  296. 

Inventor,  228. 

Judas  Iscariot,  151. 

Pontius  Pilate,  149. 

Strange,  229. 

Wandering  Jew,  145. 
Lepers  in  England,  treatment  of, 

237. 

Letiche,  226. 

Letters,  gold,  printed  in,  10. 
Letter  M  and  the  Napoleons,  161. 
Letters,  oddly  addressed,  43. 
Letter,  superscription  to  a,  70. 
Liars,  incredible,  223. 
Library,  King  of  India's,  19. 
Library,  unique,  13. 
Life  in  death,  226. 

In  the  elephant,  276. 


361 


Time,    washing   but    once    in 

a,  317. 

Light  from  potatoes,  178. 
Lightning  prints,  72. 
Lightning,  thunder  and,  323. 
Lilly's  predictions,  36. 
Lily,  belladonna,  305. 
Lily,  veneration  for  the,  311. 
Limb,  first  artificial,  198. 
Lincoln,  accidental  rhymes  of,  43. 
Lincoln,  Great  Tom  of,  118. 
Lion,  re-tailing  a,  277. 
Literary  ingenuity,  18. 
Locality,     strange,    for    saying 

prayers,  169. 
Lock,  wonderful,  91. 
Lock,  hundred  families',  188. 
Lombardy,  iron  crown  of,  99. 
Long  lost  book  recovered,  8. 
Long  psalm,  value  of  a,  216. 
Long-toed  shoes,  209. 
Looking  back,  317. 

Glass,  in  search  of,  70. 

For  the  head  of  the  bed,  283. 
Lord  Bacon's  dream,  246. 
Lord  Kingsborough's  Mexico,  15. 
Lotteries,  65. 
Lottery,  ancient,  64. 
Lottery,  cashing  prizes,  63. 
Lottery  of  women  in  India,  64. 
Lost  book,  13. 
Lost  in  a  fog,  crows,  267. 
Love  birds,  271. 

Charms,  314. 

Handkerchiefs,  185. 

Knot,  true,  87. 
Luck  of  Eden  Hall,  101. 

Of  birthdays,  336. 

Fisherman's,  335. 

Lundyfoot's,  136. 

Spitting  for,  343. 
Lucky  find,  205. 
Luminous  human  bodies,  178. 
Luncheon,  210. 
Luxury  in  1652,  158. 

MacdufFs  cross,  221. 
Machinery,  delicate,  86. 
Magpie,  257. 

Stoning  a  toad,  278. 

Hal  fa  nest,  257. 
Magnetic  cures,  230. 
Magic  rain  stone,  203. 
Magnificent  Latin  Bible,  10. 


Magnus,  Albertns,  recipesfrom,  74. 
Mammoth  bottle,  109. 
Bell  of  Buddah,  119 
Feast,  181. 

Pawnbroker's  shop,  170. 
Man  carries  his  house  on  his  head 

176. 

Man,  yearly  food  of  one,  207. 
Manna  marked  with  the  number 

six,  324. 
Manner  of  watchmen  imitating  the 

clock  at  Hernhuth,  55. 
Manufacturing  feat,  175. 
Mark  of  the  cross  on  the  ass,  276. 
Marriages,  Gretna  Green,  41. 
Marriages  in  May  unlucky,  344. 
Martin  Luther's  tankard,  94. 
Martyrs,  blood  of  the,  338 
Martyrdom  of  Isaiah,  154. 
May  dew  a  cure  for  freckles,  231. 
Mazarine  Bible,  9. 
Meal,  one  a  day,  206. 
Mecca,  black  stone  of,  92. 
Medallions  only  for  the  royal,  171. 
Medical  prescriptions,  Chinese,  182. 
Medicine,  ancient  practice  of,  337. 
Meerschaum  pipe,  first,  130. 
Memnon,  statue  of,  103. 
Memorandum,  curious  old,  on  the 

crucifixion  of  the  Saviour,  38. 
Menageries,  phantom,  60. 
Mexico,  Lord  Kingsborough's,  15. 
Mezzotinting,  134. 
Midsummer,  rose  at,  307. 
Military  salute,  75. 
Minute  mechanisms,  90. 
Miniature  time-piece,  88. 
Missal,  Bedford,  14. 
Mixed  moons,  338. 
Mob  wisdom,  173. 
Moles  (on  the  skin),  349. 
Mole-skin  eye-brows,  189. 
Mole,  voracity  of  the,  285. 
Money,  breaking  a  piece  of,  314. 
Monkish  prayers,  180. 
Monks,  gluttony  of  the,  181. 
Monks  ordered  to  shave,  62. 
Monkeys   demanding   their   dead, 

279. 

Moons,  mixed,  338. 
Moon,  cutting  timber  by  the,  213. 
Welcoming  the  new,  240 
Struck,  168. 
Most  curious  book  in  the  world,  7, 


362 


Motherly  sacrifice  of  the  gall  insect, 

294. 

Mountain  highway,  321. 
Mouse  ear,  305. 
Moving  gods,  167. 
Mugwort,  305. 

Mullet,  colors  in  a  dying,  298. 
Mummies  converted  into  paint,  174. 
Museums,  temples,  the  first,  107. 
Muscles  of  the  caterpillar,  292. 
Muslins,  fineness  of  India,  174. 
Musical  stones,  199. 
Musical  sand,  200. 
Music,  queer  arctic,  174. 
Mutilated  Saint,  efficacy  in  a,  216. 
Mystic  gifts,  327. 

Name,  simply  on  account  of  her, 

240. 

Nankeen,  infamous,  75. 
Napoleons  and  the  letter  M,  161. 
Nature,  copied  from,  303. 
Nebuchadnezzar's  golden  mask,  98. 
Nest  of  the  flamingo,  274. 

Why  the  cuckoo  builds  no,  256. 
Why  the  magpie   builds  but 

half  a,  257. 

Nettles,  striking  with,  236. 
Newcastle,  carrying  coals  to,  170. 
New  England  primer,  14. 
New  moon,  welcoming  the,  240. 
New  nose,  effect  of  a,  215. 
Newspapers,  vascillating,  22. 
Nightingale,  252. 
Night  owls,  271. 
Nile,  crocodiles  of  the,  282. 
No  buttons  but  brass  buttons,  73. 
No  lead  in  lead  pencils,  177. 
Nonius,  opal  of,  195. 
Normandy  treasures,  201. 
Nose,  following  his,  133. 
Noted  anachronisms,  27. 
Not    buried   at   night,    Sir   John 

Moore,  28. 
Not  divine  until  smeared  with  red 

paint,  169. 

Nothing  new  under  the  sun,  142. 
Novel  way  of  curing  vicious  horses, 

211. 
Number  one,  superstitious  notion 

of,  323. 

Seven,  virtue  in  the,  325. 
Six,  manna  marked  with  the, 

324. 


Oaks,  felling,  246. 
Oaths,  Chinese,  172. 
Oaths,  Hindoo,  57. 
Oddly  addressed  letters,  43. 
Odd  bill  of  repairs,  63. 

Mode  of  revenge,  287. 

Titles  of  old  books,  29. 

Way  to  discover  a  dead  body, 

334. 

Odor  of  patchouli,  141. 
Odors,  tenacity  of,  202. 
Offending  barbers,  77. 
Oldenburg,  Horn  of,  98. 
Oldest  ballad,  40. 
Old  Grimaldi's  death,  244. 
Old  pike,  297. 
Old  weather  rhymes,  127. 
Omens,  cock-crowing,  319. 

Picture,  245. 

Poetry  of,  329. 

Reckless  disregard  of,  247. 

Twelfth-night,  244. 
One  hundred  years  too  soon,  55: 
One  meal  a  day,  206. 
Onomancy,  326. 
Opera,  first,  197. 
Opal  of  Nonius,  195. 
Oranges,  curious,  304. 
Orchards,  wassailing  the,  235. 
Ordeal  in  Africa,  308. 

Of  chewing  rice,  309. 

Of  the  cross,  307. 

Of  cold  water,  309. 

Of  the  Eucharist,  308. 

By  fire,  309. 

By  touch,  310. 
Origin  of  attar  of  roses,  215. 

Blue-tinted  paper,  132. 

Long-toed  shoes,  209. 
Orthography,    singular    specimen 

of,  34. 

Orpheus,  head  of,  104. 
Ostrich,  252. 

Outburst,  grandiloquent,  25. 
Oval  lathe,  first,  131. 
Owl,  259. 
Owl,  night,  271. 
Owl's  claws,  340. 
Oyster  dredging  chaunt,  201. 
Oysters  growing  on  trees,  301. 

Painters,  blunders  of,  23. 
Paint,  mummies   converted   into, 
174. 


363 


Paint,  not  divine  until  smeared 
•with,  169. 

Pagoda-shaped  head-dresses,  157. 

Palindromes,  20. 

Paper,  blue-tinted,  origin  of,  132. 

Paper,  note,  diminutive,  135. 

Papers,  watch,  78. 

Parallel  passages  between  Shakes- 
peare and  the  Bible,  32. 

Parallel,  curious,  80. 

Parisian  scarlet,  139. 

Paradise  of  old  hats,  205. 

Paradise,  bird  of,  259. 

Passage  through  the  Isthmus  of 
Panama  suggested  three  hun- 
dred years  ago,  52. 

Passion  flower,  311. 

Passing  bell,  121. 

Pastor,  how  the  Chinese  secure 
a,  238. 

Patagonian  superstitions,  312. 

Patchouli,  ordor  of,  141. 

Pawning  Bibles  and  "Waterloo 
medals,  212. 

Pawnbroker* a  shop,  mammoth,  170. 

Pea  crabs,  288. 

Peacock  at  home,  268. 

Peacocks'  crests,  263. 

Pearl,  egg  mistaken  for  a,  170. 

Pearl,  essence  of,  134. 

Pedigree  of  Arabian  horses,  284. 

Pelican,  fable  of  the,  270. 

Penguin  breeding-grounds,  271. 

Penguin's  solitary  egg,  262. 

Peri,  born  of  a,  214. 

Perfumes,  Egyptian,  293. 

Perfumed  butter,  194. 

Perfume,  saffron  as  a,  202. 

Perforated  stones,  328. 

Persistent  fly,  292. 

Phantom  menageries,  60. 

Physicians,  Egyptian,  169. 
Gold-headed  canes  for,  207. 
Symbol,  162. 

Phoenix,  260. 

Phosphorescent  insects,  292. 

Picnics  centuries  ago,  182. 

Picture  omens,  245. 

Pigmies,  161. 

Pike,  an  old,  297. 

Pillory  in  Philadelphia,  54. 

Pin  superstitions,  345. 

Pious  guide  posts,  68. 

Pipe,  meerschaum,  first,  130. 


Plague,  red  tape  a  protection 
against,  339. 

Play  bill,  curious,  32. 

Plate,  Wesley's,  107. 

Plover,  crocodile,  263. 

Poem,  Carmelite  friar's,  31. 

Poetry  of  omens,  329. 

Politeness,  strained,  210. 

Polypi  edifices,  299. 

Pontius  Pilate  at  Vienne,  149. 

Pope's  skull,  211. 

Portland  vase,  93. 

Porcelain,  132. 

Posies  for  wedding  rings,  52. 

Post-office,  curious,  76. 

Potatoes,  light  from,  178. 

Prayers,  curious  locality  for  say- 
ing, 169. 

Prayers,  monkish,  180. 

Praying  for  revenge,  189. 

Practice  of  medicine,  ancient,  337. 

Prescriptions,  Chinese  medical,  182. 

Predictions,  Lilly's,  36. 

Preserved  in  salt,  157. 

Preservativeagainsttoothache,338. 

Prices,  Scripture,  175. 

Primitive  tavern  signs,  78. 

Primer,  New  England,  14. 

Prince  of  Charlatans,  206. 

Prints,  lightning,  72. 

Printed  in  gold  letters,  10. 

Prison  literature,  imperishable,  16. 

Private  expenses  of  Charles  II.,  53. 

Prizes,  early  lottery,  63. 

Prophetic  almanacs,  17. 

Prologue,  high-sounding,  34. 

Provision  against  famine,  singular, 
283. 

Psalm,  value  of  a  long,  210. 

Puffing  their  own  books,  16. 

Pulpit,  refreshments  for  the,  61. 

Punch  and  Judy  in  1669,  77. 

Puritan  surnames,  38. 

Pyed  Piper,  147. 

Queer  arctic  music,  174. 

Evidence  of  divinity,  182. 

Legend  about  fish,  296. 

Place  to  secrete  a  diamond,  222. 
Quaint  epitaphs,  110. 
Quaint  recipes,  46. 
Queen's  vow,  171. 
Queen  Anne's  farthings,  177. 
Queen  Elizabeth's  dresses,  166. 


364 


Queen  Elizabeth's  "Gone  Gospell 
Book,"  11. 

Rain  doctors,  African,  152. 

Magic  stone,  203. 

"Whipping  toads  to  produce,  349. 
Bats  and  mice,  how  they  use  their 

tails,  280. 
Raven,  260. 

Recipes  from  Albertus  Magnus,  74. 
Recipes,  quaint,  46. 
Reckless  disregard  of  omens,  247. 
Red  tape  a  remedy  for  the  plague, 

339. 

Refreshments  for  the  pulpit,  61. 
Regal  hunting  party,  214. 
Remarkable  events,  chronological 

table  of,  47. 

Remarkable  perseverance,  21. 
Remarkable  echoes,  166. 
Remedy  for  bad  dreams,  225. 
Remedy  for  fleas,  256. 
Relics,  religious,  108. 
Resurrection  watch,  88. 
Re-tailing  a  lion,  277. 
Reticence,  gipsy,  170. 
Retort,  drop-letter,  67. 
Revenge,  odd  mode  of,  287 
Rhymes,  accidental,  43. 

Dialect,  26. 

In  search  of,  26. 

Old  weather,  127. 

Foul  weather,  129. 
Rhyming  charter,  42. 
Rhymer,  Thomas  the,  148. 
Rice,  chewing,  ordeal  of,  309. 
Richelieu's  boast,  79. 
Richelieu,  copy  of  a  letter  written 

by,  51. 

Riddles,  antiquity  of,  63. 
Riddles,  book  of,  13. 
Rights  and  lefts,  216. 
Right  and  left  hand,  197. 
Ringing,  articles  of,  126. 

Bell,  in  Holland,  122. 

The  changes,  122. 
Rings,  cramp,  313. 

Posies  for,  52. 

Rubbing  with,  341. 

Toad-stone,  317. 

Wedding,  206. 
River  of  ink,  200. 

Roasting  a  black  .hen's  heart  at 
midnight,  267. 


Robin  Hood,  grave  of,  118. 

Robin,  killing  a,  254. 

Roc,  fabulous,  270. 

Rollers,  discovery  of  composition 

for,  133. 

Roman  stamp,  91. 
Roses,  attar  of,  215. 

Jericho,  303. 

Midsummer,  307. 
Rouen,  great  bell  of,  110. 
Royal  dinner  time,  318. 
Royal,  medallions  only  for  the,  171. 
Royal  sportsmen,  215. 
Roving  tinkers,  168. 
Rubbing  with  a  gold  ring,  341. 
Rules,  household,  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  56. 

Sacred  anchors,  179. 

Sacro  Catino,  99. 

Sailors  whistling,  247. 

Saffron  as  a  perfume,  202. 

Sagacity  of  a  bird,  273. 

Salagrama  stone,  334. 

Salute,  military,  75. 

Salt,  preserved  in,  157. 

Salt,  spilling,  336. 

Sand,  musical,  200. 

Satanic  superstitions,  231. 

Saturday  a  fatal  day  to  the  royaj 

family  of  England,  57. 
Saviour,  brass  medal  of  the,  44. 
Saviour,  death  warrant  of  the,  45. 
Scapegoat,  the  camel  as  a,  275. 
Scarborough  nshmarket,  198. 
Scarlet,  Parisian,  139. 
Scipio's  shield,  97. 
Scotland,  curse  of,  227. 
Screens,  tavern,  71. 
Scripture,  prices,  175. 
Sea,  few  fish  found  at,  199. 
Sea- woman  of  Haarlem,  150. 
Self-esteem,  inordinate,  76. 
Selecting  an  avocation,  343. 
Selling  snails,  190. 
Seventh  son  of  the  seventh  son,  324. 
Shakespeare,  parallel  passages,  32. 
Shaking  aspen,  302. 
Shaved  bear,  277. 
Shells,  chank,  298. 
Shells,  colossal,  297. 
Sheep,  Don  Quixote's,  40. 
Shirts  growing  on  trees,  300. 
Shoe-black  plant,  306. 


365 


Shoes,  horse,  314. 

Kights  and  lefts,  216. 

Origin  of  long-toed,  209. 

Throwing  an  old,  319. 
Showers  of  blood,  299. 
Sibylline  books,  16. 
Signature  of  the  cross,  79. 
Signs  in  New  York,  curious,  74. 
Signs  of  foul  weather,  129. 
Silver  book,  12. 
Silver,  German,  138. 
Simply  on  account  of  her  name,  79. 
Singular  burial  customs,  236. 

Coincidence,  71. 

Hindoo  vow,  231. 

Provision  against  famine,  283. 

Specimen  of  orthography,  34. 
Sir  Henry  Wotten's  strange  dream, 

243. 
Sir   John    Moore    not    buried   at 

night,  28. 

Sitting  cross-legged,  330. 
Skeletons  at  feasts,  183. 
Skull,  buffalo's,  322. 

Pope's,  211. 

Watches,  86. 
Slave  advertisements,  27. 
Sleep,  composition  during,  35. 
Sleeping  on  stones,  336. 
Smokers,  ancient,  181. 
Smuggler's  talisman,  341. 
Snake's  attachment  for  home,  296. 
Snuff-box,  Burn's,  103. 
Spacious  halls,  171. 
Spain,  evil  eye  in,  320. 
Speaking  trumpet,  Kircher's,  198. 
Specific  against  epilepsy,  242. 
Spelling,  Boone's,  33. 
Spell-bound,  315. 
Spelling,  vagaries  of,  33. 
Spider  barometers,  291. 
Spider's  web,  wonderful,  294. 
Spilling  salt,  336. 
Spirit  of  Dundee,  242. 
Spitting  for  luck's  sake,  343. 
Spontaneous  combustion,  203. 
Sportsman,  royal,  215. 
Stamp,  Roman,  91. 
Statue  of  Memnon,  103. 
Strained  politeness,  210. 
Strange  instance  of  sympathy,  241. 
Strange  legend,  229. 
Strasburg,  curious  custom  in,  59. 
Stanching  blood,  346. 


Striking  parallel  passages,  32. 

"Watches,  89. 

With  nettles,  23(5. 
Stomachs,  hundred,  293. 
Stones,  alligators  swallowing,  282. 

Barometer,  157. 

Black,  of  Mecca,  92. 

Hell,  226. 

Magic  rain,  203. 

Musical,  199. 

Perforated,  328. 

Salagrama,  334. 

Sleeping  on,  336. 

Talismanic,  in  birds,  249. 
Stork,  265. 

Story  of  the  dodo,  268. 
Strychnia,  bitterness  of,  303. 
St.  Agnes  eve,  234. 
St.  Anthony's  fire,  179. 
St.  Cuthbert's  beads,  193. 
St.  Fillan's  bell,  119. 
St.  George's  cavern,  165. 
St.  Helena  coins,  328. 
St.  John's  wort,  306. 
St.  Patrick's  day,  234. 
St.  Sepulchre's  bell,  121 
Stnmbling  unlucky,  311. 
Stupid  critic,  24. 
Subscribers,  inducements  to,  34. 
Subterranean  Christmas  bells,  120. 
Sugar,  whitening,  134. 
Supernatural  appearance  at  Hol- 
land House,  243. 
Superscription  to  a  letter,  70. 
Superstitions,  beard,  214. 

Bees,  239. 

Breton,  347. 

Birds,  (see  birds). 

Camel,  284. 

Caul,  312. 

Children,  345. 

Coral  and  bells,  190. 

Croaking  of  a  raven,  250. 

Death-watch,  330. 

Cutting  timber,  213. 

Eggs,  274. 

Geranium,  "02. 

Hidden  tr  '.sure,  164. 

House  crickets,  330. 

Letiche,  226. 

Letter  M,  161. 

Lily,  311. 

May  dew,  231. 

Moon,  168. 


366 


Number  one,  323. 

Number  seven,  325. 

Number  six,  324. 

Patagonian,  312. 

Pin,  345. 

Pontius  Pilate,  149. 

Rose  of  Jericho,  303. 

Rose  at  midsummer,  307. 

Rubbing  with  a  gold  ring,  341. 

Satanic,  231. 

Seventh   son    of  the    seventh 
son,  324. 

Spilling  salt,  336. 

St.  John's  wort,  306. 

Whistling,  247. 

Wolf,  346. 

Supposed  to  be  a  genuine  island,  18. 
Sundry  rural  charms,  331. 
Sun,  temple  of  the,  105. 
Surnames,  Puritan,  38. 
Swearing  on  the  book,  172. 
Swift's  Latin  puns,  42. 
Swallowed  by  an  earthquake  and 

thrown  up  again,  175. 
Swallow  drinks  the  king's  health, 

258. 

Sword,  executioner's,  101. 
Symbol,  physician's,  162. 

Talismanic  stones  in  birds,  249. 
Talisman  of  Charlemagne,  91. 

Smuggler's,  341. 

Treacherous,  219. 
Tankard,  Martin  Luther's,  94. 
Tarring  and  feathering,  antiquity 

of,  183. 

Tavern  screens,  71. 
Tavern  signs,  primitive,  78. 
Tea,  eating,  208. 
Temple  of  the  sun,  105. 

Museums,  first,  107. 

Tradition  of  the,  230. 
Tenacity  of  odors,  202. 
Tenacity  of  life  in  an  elephant,  276. 
Tenant,  good,  209. 
Thackeray's  geographical  blunders, 

23. 

Thirty  years  in  blossoming,  305. 
Thomas  the  Rhymer,  148. 
Thorn,  Glastonbury,  219. 
Three  borrowed  days,  209. 
Throwing  an  old  shoe,  319. 
Thunder  and  lightning,  323. 
Time-piece,  miniature,  88. 


Time-piece,  curious,  86. 

Time,  royal  dinner,  318. 

Timber,  cutting  by  the  moon,  213. 

Tinkers,  roving,  168. 

Title  pages  which  mislead,  31. 

Toad-stone  rings,  317. 

Magpie,  stoning  a,  278. 

Whipping,  to  produce  rain,  349. 
To  disappoint  his  wife,  192. 
Toilet,  absurdities  of  the,  160. 
Toilet  box,  Carara's,  100. 
Tomb  of  Darius,  106. 
Toppling  flower  pots,  62. 
Too  many  watches,  89. 
Toothache,    preservative    against, 

338. 

Tooth,  golden,  226. 
Tooth-picks,  60. 
Tooth-picks,  magnetic,  231. 
Tortoises  afraid  of  heat  and  rain, 

288. 

Touch,  ordeal  of,  310. 
Traders,  earliest,  197. 
Tradition,  Abysynnian,  213. 

Artist,  213. 

Temple,  230. 
Trains  in  the  fourteenth  century, 

158. 
Treasure,  fairy,  220. 

Digging,  164. 

Normandy,  201. 

Treatment  of  lepers  in  England,  237 
Trees,  oysters  growing  on,  301, 

Planting  in  Java,  302. 

Shirts  growing  on,  300. 

Whistling,  301. 
Trifoliated  plants  considered  sacred 

304. 

True-lover's  knot,  187. 
Trumpet,  Kircher's  speaking,  198. 
Trying  land  titles  in  Hindostan, 

163. 

Tub,  Diogenes  and  his,  27. 
Turban  in  Arabia,  159. 
Turkish    superstition    about    th« 

geranium,  302. 
Twelfth-night  omens,  244. 
Twins  in  Africa,  197. 
Twofold  apparition,  244. 
Twopence,  drunk  for,  66. 
Tyrian  purple,  139. 

Unicorn's  horn,  319. 
Unique  library,  13. 


367 


Unlucky,  stumbling,  311. 

The  hinder  well-spout,  247. 

May  marriages,  344. 
Umbrellas,  185. 

Vagaries  of  spelling,  33. 

Value  of  a  long  Psalm,  210. 

Vascillating  newspapers,  22. 

Vase,  Portland,  93. 

Vegetable  fungus,  306. 

Veneered  diamonds,  141. 

Veneration  for  the  lily,  311. 

Very  long  word,  178. 

Vermin,  exterminating,  327. 

Verse,  echo,  78. 

Victory,  cock-crowing  an  omen  of, 

319. 

Vienne,  Pontius  Pilate  at,  149. 
Vinegar  Bible,  11. 
Virtue  in  the  number  seven,  325. 
Vicious  horses,  curing,  211. 
Visions  of  destiny,  342. 
Vision,  Captain  Kidd's,  242. 
Vocai  clock,  83. 
Voracity  of  the  mole,  285. 
Vow,  Hindoo,  singular,  231. 
Vow,  Queen's,  171. 

Wager,  curious,  184. 

Eating  for  a,  184. 

Grinning  for  a,  183. 
Waggery,  ancient  bit  of,  191. 
Walking  apothecary  shop,  192. 
Wall  paper  pattern,  176. 
Wandering  Jew,  145. 
Warlike  bantam,  201. 
Washing  but  once  in  a  lifetime,  317. 
Wassailing  the  orchards,  235. 
Watches,  borrowing,  88. 

Book-shaped,  87. 

Cruciform,  88. 

Death,  330. 

Papers,  78. 

Resurrection,  88. 

Skull,  86. 

Striking,  89. 

Too  many,  89. 

Wearing  two,  89. 
Watchman  imitating  the  clock  at 

Hernhuth,  55. 
Water,  digging  for,  346. 


Water,  Hungary,  141. 
Waterloo  medals,  212. 
Weather  rhymes,  127. 
Weather,  signs  of  foul,  129. 
Wedding  rings,  206. 
Wedding  rings,  posies  for,  52. 
Welcoming  the  new  moon,  240. 
Wesley's  plate,  107. 
Westminster  clock,  82. 
Whalebone,  177. 
Whims,  alliterative,  21. 
Whipping  toads  to  produce  rain, 

349. 

Whistling,  sailors,  247. 
Whistling  trees,  301. 
White  elephants,  276. 
Whitening  sugar,  134. 
White-breasted  birds,  262. 
Whittington  and  his  cat,  153. 
Why  the  cuckoo  builds  no  neat, 

256. 
Why  the  magpie  builds  half  a  nest, 

257. 

Wierix's  Bible,  9. 
Wife,  returned,  224. 
Wife,  to  disappoint  his,  192. 
Will,  eccentric,  59. 
Will,  John  O'3-aunt's,  58. 
William  the  Conqueror,  155. 
Will-with-a-wisp,  313. 
Wine  at  two  millions  a  bottle,  194 
Winning  a  pair  of  gloves,  237. 
Wisdom,  mob,  173. 
Witchcraft  charms,  320. 
Witch-ridden  horses,  340. 
Witch,  weighing  a,  328. 
Wolf  superstitions,  346. 
Woman's  cleverness,  221. 
Wonderful  automata,  104. 

Clock,  83. 

Exhibition  with  bees,  217. 

Lock,  91. 

Spider's  web,  294. 
Wren,  261. 
Worms,  book,  291. 
Worshipful  cranes,  263. 

Yearly  food  of  one  man,  207. 
Zoological  cabinet,  immense,  298. 


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